(CelebrityAccess) — The surviving members of Soundgarden have requested the court dismiss a lawsuit filed against them by Vicky Cornell, widow of late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell in which she alleges the group owes her hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid royalties.
In her lawsuit filed in December, Cornell alleged that the group had failed to pay the Cornell Estate their share of royalties and the rights to seven unreleased recordings made before the Chris Cornell’s death in 2017.
According to Variety, the surviving members of the group — Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd — filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the group does not have possession of their own creative work.
“Vicky Cornell has possession of the only existing multi-track recordings of the last Soundgarden tracks that include Chris Cornell’s instrumental parts and vocals. All of the band members jointly worked on these final tracks, Vicky now claims ownership of the final Soundgarden album,” the members of the group claimed in their motion to dismiss.
The members of the group also claimed to be owed monies for the recording but stated that none of them will be paid until all expenses are settled and the “partnership shares of earnings can be calculated and distributed,” Variety reported.
In a statement provided to Variety, an attorney for Cornell said: “We obviously disagree with the band’s blatant mischaracterization of events, and stand by the truthful facts set forth in our complaint. It is disappointing that Chris’ former band members have now sought to taint his legacy by making numerous false allegations, and that they continue to withhold substantial monies from his widow and minor children (despite using those same funds to pay for their own legal fees). The issue in this case is not who wrote the songs but rather who owns the specific recordings made solely by Chris while he resided in Florida. We are very confident that the Court will vindicate the rights of Chris’ Estate, and that the case will properly remain in Florida, where Chris resided and recorded the songs that are now the lawful property of his Estate.”
