A federal judge has dismissed several iconic musicians’ lawsuit against Universal Music Group over a 2008 warehouse fire that destroyed archived recordings, The New York Times reports. The lawsuit was filed by Soundgarden, Steve Earle, Hole, and the estates of Tupac Shakur and Tom Petty last year in response to a Times investigation of Hollywood warehouse fire that reportedly destroyed many master tapes.
Following the case’s filing, all of the plaintiffs dropped out of the lawsuit except Tom Petty’s former wife Jane Petty. Hole dropped out in August “based on UMG’s written assurances to Plaintiffs’ counsel that no Hole master recordings were lost in the fire.” Soundgarden and Tupac’s estate pulled out last month.
Today, Judge John A. Kronstadt dismissed Jane Petty’s claims without prejudice. The judge argued that Petty’s former label MCA (a subsidiary of UMG) owned Petty’s masters. The judge ruled that Jane Petty therefore couldn’t sue.
In legal filings, UMG lawyers named 19 specific artists who had archived material damaged or destroyed in the fire, outlining where specific digital replacement copies existed. Universal’s lawyers claimed that the plaintiffs’ lawyers were “irresponsibly conflating lost assets (everything from safeties and videos to artwork) with original album masters in a desperate attempt to inject substance into their meritless legal case.” Universal has consistently disputed the Times’ initial report.
Howard King, one of the lawyers representing plaintiffs, responded: “Universal claimed 17,000 artists were affected by the fire when they were suing for damages. Now that they face a lawsuit by their artists, they claim a mere 19 artists were affected. This discrepancy is inexplicable.”
A representative for UMG provided the following statement:
Judge Kronstadt’s decision fully dismisses the Soundgarden litigation and entirely rejects the only remaining plaintiff’s arguments. As we have said all along, the New York Times Magazine articles at the root of this litigation were stunning in their overstatement and inaccuracy. As always, we remain focused on partnering with artists to release the world’s greatest music.