Nirvana’s Lawyers Grow Impatient With Spencer Elden: ‘This Case Must End’
The legal back-and-forth between Nirvana and Spencer Elden, the now 30-year-old ex-baby model who graces the cover art of Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind as a naked infant, continues. And the former grunge band's lawyers seem to be growing impatient with him.
This week, Nirvana's counsel made another motion to dismiss the child pornography lawsuit Elden brought against the band and its related business entities after he refiled it this month, according to Spin.
"This case must end," the band's legal team said. They asked the court for an "order dismissing this action, with prejudice … on the ground that it is barred by the statute of limitations."
That's the same thing they've argued continually in the case, including last December, when the suit was initially dismissed by a judge per their request after Elden missed a deadline to refile. But he was given another chance to resubmit his claims.
This week, Nirvana's team asserted that "no amendment is possible to salvage [his] claim. … In his ever-shrinking pleading, Elden has now dismissed all but one of the myriad state and federal law claims he previously attempted to charge against defendants."
Last August, Elden sued Nirvana for child sexual exploitation, claiming his image on the artwork amounted to child pornography. He sought damages "arising out of each of the defendant's violations of federal criminal child pornography statutes," per court documents.
Nirvana's lawyers charged that Elden had spent the last three decades profiting from his celebrity as the "Nirvana Baby."
In September, Elden asked Universal Music to stop using the album cover that depicts his genitalia, especially for the 2021 reissue. However, the anniversary editions, released that November, include the original cover art. That same month, Elden submitted an amendment using late Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain's journals to bolster his case.
The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24.