‘Nevermind’ Baby Is Still Suing Nirvana

The man who was once the naked baby on Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover has revived his “child pornography” lawsuit against the band after it was dismissed by a federal judge in California last week.

Spencer Elden filed his second amended complaint late Wednesday, meeting a deadline set by Judge Fernando M. Olguin when the court tossed the case on Jan. 3.

Judge Olguin had dismissed the case after Elden failed to respond to a motion to dismiss filed by Nirvana and the other defendants on Dec. 22, 2021.

Elden, now 30, re-ups his claims that the band — as well Kurt Cobain’s estate, photographer Kurt Weddle, and various record labels — “intentionally commercially marketed the child pornography depicting Spencer and leveraged the lascivious nature of his image to promote the Nevermind album, the band, and Nirvana’s music, while earning, at a minimum, tens of millions of dollars in the aggregate.”

The second amended complaint drops a claim related to sex trafficking. Elden’s prior suit alleged that the defendants did “knowingly benefit from participation in what they know or should know is a sex trafficking venture.”

In their prior motion to dismiss the suit, Nirvana’s lawyers argued that Elden’s willingness to associate himself with the Nevermind cover over the years — such as selling autographed copies of the cover and at one point recreating the photograph as an adult for a paying gig — proved he didn’t suffer any damages. They also argued too much time had passed and the statute of limitations on Elden’s allegations had run out.

They specifically went after the sex trafficking claim, saying it was too late for Elden to make a claim under the federal statute that permits victims of certain trafficking crimes to sue for civil damages. “There is no doubt that Elden’s claims will fail on the merits,” the band’s lawyers wrote.

From Rolling Stone US.