The surviving members of Soundgarden have dropped their counterclaims against the widow of late frontman Chris Cornell over funds raised during a benefit concert organised in his memory.
Soundgarden members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd had previously alleged that their former frontman’s wife, Vicky Cornell, used funds intended for charity for “personal purposes for herself and her family” after Soundgarden performed at last year’s I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell concert.
The trio claimed that they had entered an “oral agreement” with Vicky Cornell to play for free during the gig on January 16th 2019 – so long as the money raised would benefit The Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation, which they alleged it did not.
At the time of the countersuit, Cornell’s attorney Martin Singer hit back with a statement that read: “Every single penny of the proceeds generated by the concert were properly allocated and accounted for and their statements are not only false and defamatory but demonstrate the depths to which Chris’ former bandmates are willing to sink to tarnish his legacy.”
Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Soundgarden have since dropped the countersuit after Vicky Cornell’s lawyers allegedly threatened the band with Rule 11 sanctions for filing “shameful and objectively frivolous” accusations against the widow.
“When we threatened Soundgarden with the undisputed facts that their claims concerning Vicky Cornell and the Cornell Charitable Foundation were disgraceful and fabricated by requesting the court sanction them for their appalling conduct, they caved in and agreed to drop their claims,” lawyer Martin Singer said in a statement to THR.
“We were looking forward to having the court make Soundgarden and their attorneys accountable for their shameful conduct, but they instead backed off their meritless claims since they knew they would lose the Rule 11 motion, which is used in court to punish and deter parties and their attorneys from pursuing objectively frivolous claims.”
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According to the filing, the band still believes those claims were “well-founded” but have chosen to voluntarily dismiss them “for reasons communicated” to Cornell’s lawyers.
Chris Cornell died by suicide in May 2017 and Vicky, who controls her late husband’s estate, is still currently embroiled in a battle with Soundgarden over unreleased music, saying she is owed “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in royalty payments.
Check out ‘Black Hole Sun’ by Soundgarden:
