The ongoing legal disputes between Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, the widow of the late Chris Cornell, have managed to get even messier. Vicky is now suing Soundgarden over a buyout price for Chris’ share of the band.
Vicky claims that the surviving members of the band offered her just $300,000 for Chris’ stake, according to documents obtained by TMZ.
Essentially, Vicky feels she is being lowballed by Soundgarden, suggesting that they were offered $16 million from an outside investor for the masters — equating to $4 million for each member of the quartet. Vicky’s latest suit asks a judge to value Soundgarden’s assets.
A representative on behalf of Soundgarden responded to TMZ regarding the suit:
“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.
“Since then, the band members have continued to try to settle all disputes with the Cornell Estate and in their several attempts to settle, the band members have elected to offer multiple times more than the amount calculated by Cohen.
“This dispute has never been about money for the band. This is their life’s work and their legacy.”
The latest legal episode follows a countersuit — a separate matter — that Soundgarden filed against Vicky last May, involving unreleased recordings and the status of the band’s social media channels, which they claimed Vicky has taken over without permission. They also contended that Vicky used charity concert proceeds for “personal purposes.”
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In December of 2019, Vicky initially sued the members of Soundgarden, accusing them of falsely claiming ownership of seven unreleased songs and withholding royalties from her.
The band had insisted that the songs were meant for a new Soundgarden album, but Vicky claimed no formal agreement was made between Chris and his bandmates as to the intended destination of the tracks. Needless to say, the legal turmoil between the Cornell estate and Soundgarden has only thickened in the meantime.
