Plaintiffs Drop Courtney Love From Universal Studios Fire Lawsuit, UMG Files For Dismissal Of Entire Suit

Court Action

The plaintiffs who filed a $100 million lawsuit against the UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP over destroyed or lost masters from the 2008 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS fire have dropped COURTNEY LOVE and her band HOLE from the suit when UMG offered plausible evidence that nothing connected to the band or artist was burned, DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS.COM reports. While the artists and their reps have amended their complaint, the conglomerate has also filed a motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit.

UMG alleges that few of the artists actually had masters in the warehouse at the time of the 2008 fire. It offered this statement to DMN: “Even though our work is not yet complete, we have already determined that original masters for many of the artists named in the lawsuit were not lost in the 2008 fire. We will not be distracted from our focus on providing our artists with full transparency even as the plaintiffs’ attorneys continue to pursue these baseless claims.

“Over a month ago, without even knowing if the 2008 fire on the NBC/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS lot affected their clients, plaintiffs’ attorneys rushed to pursue meritless legal claims," the continued. "UMG’s dedicated global team is actively working directly with our artists and their representatives to provide accurate information concerning the assets we have and what might have been lost in the fire. Even though our work is not yet complete, we have already determined that original masters for many of the artists named in the lawsuit were not lost in the 2008 fire. We will not be distracted from our focus on providing our artists with full transparency even as the plaintiffs’ attorneys continue to pursue these baseless claims.”

Every other litigating artist has remained in the amended suit, citing reports that UMG received $150 million from UNIVERSAL STUDIOS parent NBCUNIVERSAL to allay insurance claims received after the 2008 blaze. Many of those claims and disclosures have been kept under seal, with UMG not providing any details.

“Despite its recoveries in the fire lawsuit and through the insurance proceeds, and despite the prior calculations of the losses of master recordings sustained in the fire that it used to obtain those recoveries, UMG still maintains that it does not fully know what master recordings were lost in the fire, that some of the master recordings previously identified as lost may not have been lost at all, and that it has recently assembled a ‘worldwide team’ to ascertain the extent of its losses, which assessment remains ongoing," the plaintiffs' counsel stated. "UMG has publicly represented that it now intends to be ‘fully transparent’ with its artists regarding the master recordings lost in the fire, but it still has not disclosed the calculations of its losses that were used to obtain its recoveries in the fire lawsuit and the insurance proceeds or made any attempt to explain the discrepancy between its prior claims and its continued efforts to downplay the extent of its losses.”

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