Judge Quotes Taylor Swift in Responding to Metallica’s Insurance Lawsuit Read More: Judge Quotes Taylor Swift in Responding to Metallica’s Lawsuit

A California judge pulled from her musical knowledge, quoting a Taylor Swift song in denying Metallica’s insurance lawsuit related to a string of 2020 cancellations in South America.

Metallica had sought a legal ruling when their insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London did not cover their losses for canceling six dates in 2020 due to COVID restrictions for travel. The insurance company had stated that there was a clear exclusion in their contract for any losses accrued from “communicable diseases.”

Read More: Judge Quotes Taylor Swift in Responding to Metallica’s Lawsuit | https://loudwire.com/judge-quotes-taylor-swift-responding-metallica-insurance-lawsuit/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referralPer Billboard, Justice Marcia Stratton stated that it was “absurd to think that government closures were not the result of Covid-19.” She then added in her written ruling, “To paraphrase Taylor Swift: ‘We were there. We remember it all too well.'”

Read More: Judge Quotes Taylor Swift in Responding to Metallica’s Lawsuit | https://loudwire.com/judge-quotes-taylor-swift-responding-metallica-insurance-lawsuit/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referralThere was no vaccine against Covid-19 in March 2020 and no drugs to treat it,” she continued. “Ventilators were in short supply. N-95 masks were all but non-existent. Patients were being treated in tents in hospital parking lots. The mortality rate of Covid-19 was unknown, but to give just one example of the potential fatality rate, by late March, 2020, New York City was using refrigerated trucks as temporary morgues. People were terrified.”
What Metallica Was Arguing?
After a Los Angeles judge ruled against Metallica in December 2022, the band appealed the ruling. They had argued that a jury might have found a different cause for the concert cancellations other than COVID. Their legal team pointed to the fact that venues eventually re-opened in 2022 “despite the ongoing presence of COVID.”

But, in her ruling on Monday (March 18), Billboard reports that Stratton said that Metallica’s argument failed because “much had changed” by spring 2022.

“People were in a position to make a more accurate cost-benefit analysis of restrictions versus potential illness,” the justice wrote. “The fact that governments chose to lift restrictions at that point, two years after COVID-19 was first discovered, does not in any way call into question their reasons for imposing travel restrictions early in the pandemic.”

Metallica initially submitted that they suffered a $3,234,569 loss from the canceled shows.

12 Infamous Rock + Metal Legal Battles
Queue “Winners and Losers” by Social Distortion.

Metallica vs. Napster, Inc.
Sometime in 2000, Metallica discovered a demo of “I Disappear,” a song that was supposed to be released with the Mission Impossible II soundtrack, was being played on the radio. On April 13, 2000, Metallica filed a lawsuit against Napster after tracing the leak back to the digital peer-to-peer file-sharing company, accusing them of copyright infringement and racketeering.

This was the first highly publicized instance of an artist suing a P2P software company. It encouraged other high-profile artists to sue Napster, ultimately leading to the company being forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidate its assets.

lSpencer Elden vs. Nirvana
Everyone is familiar with the cover for Nirvana’s 1991 album, Nevermind, even if you don’t happen to be a Nirvana fan. It features a four-month-old baby swimming in a pool, appearing to swim after a dollar bill that’s pierced by a fish hook.

In 2021, that baby, now 30-something-year-old Spencer Elden, sued Nirvana for child exploitation and pornography. He asked for $150,000 in damages from the defendants, which included Kurt Cobain’s estate, the photographer and Universal Music. There has been some legal back and forth since the original filing. A judge dismissed the case in Dec. 2021, leading Elden to refile in Feb. 2022.

McCollum Family vs. Ozzy Osbourne
After 19-year-old John McCollum died by suicide in his bedroom in Indio, California, his family discovered he had been listening to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution” off the Blizzard of Ozz album during the time of his death.

Although the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, his parents believed Osbourne was partially to blame. The McCollum family sued Osbourne and his record company, claiming the song had hidden lyrics that encouraged suicide. After

several years, the family’s legal team was unable to prove the lyrics incited the action and the judge dismissed the case in 1988.

In 2005, Burger King unveiled their Chicken Fries as a menu option. They developed an ad campaign that featured a fake, mask-wearing band called COQ ROQ. After fans began pointing out how the band resembled Slipknot (despite Burger King claiming they were intended to look like chickens), Slipknot filed a lawsuit against the fast food chain and ad agency for infringing on their trademark.

Burger King filed a countersuit, arguing Slipknot themselves were parodies of other bands like KISS, Gwar and Insane Clown Posse. Both sides ultimately dropped their cases.

Axl Rose vs. Guitar Hero
In 2010, Axl Rose sued Guitar Hero III maker Activision for including Slash, one of his former bandmates, in the 2007 video game. In the $20 million lawsuit, Rose claimed the deal to include “Welcome to the Jungle” in the video game came with the caveat that no images of Slash, or his then new band, Velvet Revolver, would be included in the game.

Two years later, the judge threw out the claims of fraud and misrepresentation, reasoning that Rose had waited too long to file the lawsuit. He did, after all, wait about three years before filing the claim against Activision.

Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster
On May 6, 1994, Pearl Jam filed a memorandum with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice asserting that Ticketmaster had a “virtually absolute monopoly on the distribution of tickets to concerts.”

Ticketmaster CEO Fred Rosen countered, “If Pearl Jam wants to play for free, we’ll be happy to distribute their tickets for free.” At the time, Time magazine called the legal battle, “Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Holy War.” The federal investigation was

eventually dropped, forcing Pearl Jam to book parts of their next tour with the company.

The Raskins vs. Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe was sued for a whopping $30 million by twins Logan and Roger and Raskin in 2016 over the bands’ joint U.S. tour. The Raskins claimed they paid $1 million to open for the Crüe and had a contract negotiated by Artist Group International that wasn’t honored.

Among their claims, they said they were forced to play short sets in mostly empty venues after managers refused to open the doors for shows. They also claimed at one of the tour stops, crew members donned monkey masks and sprayed the twins with water guns filled with urine.

Judas Priest “Subliminal Message” Trial
Just before Christmas ‘85, Ray Belknap died by suicide outside Reno, Nevada. His friend, then 19-year-old James Vance, also attempted suicide. Having survived, Vance claimed later said their actions had been influenced by Judas Priest, which prompted the family to sue the band.

The lawsuit claimed the band’s song “Better By You, Better Than Me” said “try suicide” and “let’s be dead” when played backward. Vance told attorneys that he and Belknap were listening to

music’s industry’s most closely-watched disputes, with $3.4 million potentially at stake — not to mention the reputation of one of the most famous rock bands in history.

“Stairway to Heaven” Trial
A journalist named Michael Skidmore lodged a copyright dispute against Led Zeppelin in 2014 on the behalf of the estate of Randy Wolfe, the late frontman of a band called Spirit. The claim was that Led Zeppelin stole the opening riff for “Stairway to Heaven” from Spirit.

Led Zeppelin initially won the case in 2016, but it was revived on appeal in 2018. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2020, effectively ending it. The case was one
music’s industry’s most closely-watched disputes, with $3.4 million potentially at stake — not to mention the reputation of one of the most famous rock bands in history.

Paramore vs. Jeremy Davis
After leaving Paramore in 2015 and publicly slamming Hayley Williams, former Paramore bassist Jeremy Davis sued the band in 2016. He claimed he was a partner in Varoom Whoa, the legal entity owned by Williams that operates Paramore’s business functions, and that he wasn’t paid fairly for the work he put into the band.

In return, Paramore argued Davis was actually an employee of the band, not a partner in their various revenue streams. They reached a settlement in 2017, right before the release of Paramore’s album After Laughter.