A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit brought by several musicians and estates last year, following a New York Times Magazine article about a fire that destroyed huge numbers of original recordings.
The Times Magazine reported that the fire, on a Hollywood backlot in 2008, destroyed more than 100,000 audio recordings containing as many as 500,000 songs controlled by the Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest recorded music company.
Among the artists that had lost “single and album masters” in the fire, according to the article, were Tom Petty, Tupac Shakur and Steve Earle, as well as the bands Soundgarden and Hole. Representatives of those artists or their estates sued Universal in June, arguing that the company had been negligent in protecting their tapes and that the company had a duty to share with artists any income it received from an insurance settlement over the fire.
Since the case was filed, all plaintiffs had dropped out except Jane Petty, a former wife of Tom Petty, who said she had an interest in his recordings through a divorce agreement. On Monday, Judge John A. Kronstadt of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles dismissed Jane Petty’s claims.
The dismissal was made “without prejudice,” giving Jane Petty the ability to refile her case. But Kronstadt’s 28-page ruling found her claims legally deficient, and in one crucial passage said that MCA — Tom Petty’s former record label, which is now part of Universal — owned the rights to his original recordings, known as masters. Since Tom Petty did not own them, the judge ruled, Jane Petty could not sue under a claim for “bailment,” or safekeeping.
A lawyer for Jane Petty did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday.
Universal has long maintained that the Times Magazine article, by Jody Rosen, exaggerated the extent of the damage in the fire, and in a statement Monday called the original piece and a follow-up article “stunning in their overstatement and inaccuracy.”
In a statement, Jake Silverstein, the editor of the Times Magazine, said: “We stand by Jody Rosen’s reporting. This ruling does not refute or question the veracity of what we reported: that, contrary to UMG’s continued effort to downplay the event, thousands of recordings were lost in the 2008 fire.”