It's been almost exactly a year since the members of Jane's Addiction broke out in an onstage fistfight in Boston, leading to the cancellation of their tour and the end of the band. In the aftermath of the brawl, most people involved with the tour pointed their fingers at frontman Perry Farrell, while Farrell and his wife, Etty Lau Farrell, attempted to defend him against the "false narratives."
By this summer, that conflict had taken the form of lawsuits. The three other Jane's members, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins sued Farrell for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, all stemming from his "brutal and unprovoked" attack. The Farrells immediately sued them right back — not a countersuit, a separate legal action — alleging that Farrell's bandmates pushed him to a point of frustration by playing their instruments so loud that he couldn't hear himself sing.
Now, as People reports, Farrell has filed a response to his bandmates' lawsuit, in which he "denies each and every allegation in the complaint" and denies that Navarro has "been damaged in any way or in any amount whatsoever." In his legal filing, Farrell lists 35 affirmative defenses and claims he acted in "good faith and without malice" toward Navarro, who has "unclean hands" and "failed to exercise reasonable care and diligence to mitigate [the] alleged claims and damages." Farrell is asking for his bandmates' lawsuit to be dismissed and for Navarro to pay his legal fees.
Navarro's lawyer, Christopher Frost, issued a statement to People responding to Farrell's filing: "The lawsuit speaks for itself. So does the video. By responding in this way, Mr. Farrell is not taking any formal legal step to stop the litigation. This is consistent with the fact that they have taken no affirmative steps to advance their claims, whether serving discovery or otherwise, and it is consistent with the strength of the claims by Dave, Eric, and Stephen."
Meanwhile, Farrell is set to hit the stage for the first time since hitting his bandmates. He's listed as a performer for Robby Krieger's 60th Anniversary Doors Celebration — taking place Oct. 30 at LA's Greek Theatre — alongside X's John Doe, Guns N' Roses' Steven Adler, Stone Temple Pilots' Robert DeLeo, Cigarettes After Sex's Greg Gonzalez, Fantastic Negrito, Vanilla Fudge's Carmine Appice, Sum 41's Deryck Whibley, Masters Of Reality's Chris Goss, Orianthi, and multiple members of Candlebox.
