Chris Cornell’s Widow Sues Soundgarden Again
Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky and the surviving members of Soundgarden have been engaged in a legal battle for over a year about unpaid royalties and the rights to some unfinished songs. Even though posthumous releases have emerged from the Cornell estate, it appears that the issues between Vicky and Soundgarden have not been resolved.
As TMZ reports, Vicky Cornell has filed a lawsuit against Soundgarden again, this time over the offer she received from the band for a buyout of Chris’ share of Soundgarden’s masters. Vicky claims they offered her $300,000 for her cut of the masters even after the band allegedly got an offer of $16 million from an investor for those rights. She’s asked a judge for a valuation of the band’s assets.
In a statement, a representative for Soundgarden told TMZ: “As requested by the Estate of Chris Cornell and as required by the laws of the State of Washington, the surviving members of Soundgarden submitted to the Cornell Estate four months ago a buy-out offer of the Estate’s interests in Soundgarden calculated by respected music industry valuation expert Gary Cohen.” The statement finished by saying: “This dispute has never been about money for the band. This is their life’s work and their legacy.”
Vicky Cornell’s lawyer Marty Singer responded with this statement:
The band’s contention that this dispute is somehow not about the money for them is absurd and hypocritical. Of course this is about money and their greed. They received a third party offer to buy just a portion of their interests for 16 million dollars, and yet subsequently offered to buy out Chris’ interest for a mere $278,000. And then Vicky offered $21 million for their shares, which they turned down – not because they wanted to preserve their life’s work but because they know that they will make even more off of future exploitation of the music that Chris wrote and the legacy that he created (which has lined their pockets for years).