Soundgarden drop benefit gig counter claims against Vicky Cornell

17 July 2020, 13:12 | Updated: 17 July 2020, 14:09

Soundgarden at Soundwave Festival In Melbourne. Picture: Martin Philbey/Redferns

According to reports, the surviving members of the grunge band have dropped their counterclaims against the widow of their late frontman.

Soundgarden have dropped counterclaims against the widow of their late frontman Chris Cornell.

The late Audioslave and Soundgarden singer tragically lost his life to suicide on 18 May 2017, aged just 52 years old, and a tribute gig - I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell - took place last year to celebrate his life and legacy.

In May it was reported by Rolling Stone that the surviving members of the band were accusing Vicky Cornell and the Chris Cornell estate of "fraudulent inducement" for allegedly using funds intended for charity for "personal purposes for herself and her family".

Now, according to reports, the surviving members of the band - Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd - are believed to have dropped their claims.

According to the The Hollywood Reporter, Cornell's attorney Martin Singer stated: "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."

He continued: "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."

According to reports, the band still believes those claims were "well-founded" but they've agreed to voluntarily dismiss them "for reasons communicated" to Cornell's lawyers.

2019 saw Vicky Cornell first raise a lawsuit against the band, which claimed they were withholding royalties over seven unreleased recordings made by Chris Cornell.

Soundgarden previously denied these claims in their countersuit, stating: "The Complaint is an offensive recitation of false allegations and accusations. Soundgarden categorically denies every material contention lobbed by Vicky Cornell, who filed her Complaint — rashly and without good cause — with the true purpose of extorting Soundgarden into conceding rights to which she is not legally entitled, and of coercing Soundgarden to prematurely distribute Soundgarden funds to her."

The primary suit over who owns the unreleased recordings is still ongoing.