Nevermind cover baby Spencer Elden refiles lawsuit against Nirvana

14 January 2022, 10:28 | Written by Cerys Kenneally

(News)

(Nirvana)

Spencer Elden, who was photographed as a baby for Nirvana's Nevermind album cover, has refiled his lawsuit against the band, which gives Nirvana until 27 January to reply.

Elden appeared as the baby on Nirvana's iconic 1991 album Nevermind, and last August he filed a lawsuit against 15 defendants including the band's Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, the late Kurt Cobain and his estate (including Courtney Love, who is executor of his estate), photographer Kirk Weddle, and multiple record labels.

He alleged that the defendants violated "federal criminal child pornography statutes", and wanted damages of $150,000 (£109,000). He also alleged that his name is "forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor" due to the "iconic image associated with Nirvana", which is "one of the most-recognized album covers of all time".

At the start of this month a judge dismissed Elden's lawsuit after his lawyers missed a deadline to respond to the Nirvana estate's request to dismiss the case last month, but now it's been reported that Elden has refiled the lawsuit, and Nirvana have until 27 January to respond.

The A.V. Club reports that Elden refiled the lawsuit onn 12 January, one day before the 13 January deadline. In the refiled lawsuit, Elden's lawyer Robert Lewis alleged that the defendants "knowingly possessed, transported, reproduced, advertised, promoted, presented, distributed, provided, and/or obtained child pornography depicting Spencer, who had not attained the age of 18 years when this image was printed on the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind album."

Nirvana have until 27 January to reply to the refiled lawsuit.