A judge Wednesday ordered attorneys to try to resolve how a woman can serve Courtney Love with a lawsuit alleging the singer stalked and threatened her for not helping retrieve a guitar that once belonged to Love’s late husband, Kurt Cobain.
The 1959 Martin D-18E guitar was used during Nirvana’s iconic “MTV Unplugged in New York” performance in 1993. Cobain committed suicide the next year.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Randolph Hammock said that if no resolution can be reached regarding the service of plaintiff Jessica Sullivan’s complaint, he wants the lead attorneys in a companion case to appear before the court.
“I want to get reasonable people together to get things moving,” Hammock said.
Sullivan filed her complaint in June 2018. Sullivan alleges she received threatening phone calls and text messages in June and July 2016 from Love and her former business manager, Sam Lutfi, for not helping them in their efforts to retrieve the guitar.
In May 2018, the 54-year-old Love’s former son-in-law, Isaiah Silva — ex-husband of Love’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain — also sued Love. Silva maintains that in June 2016, actor Ross Butler of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” and Lutfi broke into his West Hollywood home and attempted to kill him in an attempt to get the guitar back.
Silva, who has a child with Sullivan, says he was given the guitar by Frances Cobain.
Hammock said he was satisfied that Lutfi, who also is being sued by Sullivan, was personally served with Sullivan’s lawsuit. However, he said he was not satisfied that the best efforts have been made to also serve Love.
Hammock urged attorneys for Love and Lutfi to consider accepting service on their clients’ behalf.
“This is all silliness, in my opinion,” the judge said.
Hammock gave the attorneys until June 27 to come to an agreement for service of the Sullivan case. He said that because he does not yet have full legal jurisdiction over the attorneys in the Sullivan case, the lead lawyers in the Silva lawsuit must appear before him on June 27 and explain how the Sullivan case can proceed if the service issues are not resolved before then.
Love and Lutfi later had a falling-out and she obtained a temporary restraining order against him in December, alleging he was harassing her and her family through emails, texts and phone calls.
