Perry Farrell responds to Dave Navarro’s battery lawsuit following on-stage fight
Perry Farrell has denied the claims made in a lawsuit filed by his former Jane’s Addiction bandmate Dave Navarro.
On September 13th, 2024, Farrell appeared to attack guitarist Navarro during a performance of ‘Ocean Size’ in Boston during Jane’s Addiction reunion tour, which ended following the on-stage fight and subsequent performances were cancelled.
In July, Navarro and his fellow Jane’s Addiction bandmates, Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins, launched the lawsuit against Farrell. The trio seeking at least $10 million in damages from Farrell and Navarro also sued the singer for assault and battery.
In their lawsuit, Navarro said: “History will remember the band as suffering a swift and painful death at the hands of Farrell’s unprovoked anger and complete lack of self-control.”
Now, per documents obtained by People filed on September 8th, Farrell has given his answer to Navarro’s lawsuit accusing him of assault and battery. He “denies each and every allegation in the complaint” and also denies claims made by Navarro that the guitarist has “been damaged in any way or in any amount whatsoever.”
In the filing, Farrell listed 35 affirmative defences, and also claimed Navarro “fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against” him. Farrell’s suit also said that Navarro has “unclean hands” and “failed to exercise reasonable care and diligence to mitigate (the) alleged claims and damages”.
Farrell claims he acted with “good faith and without malice” toward Navarro, and wants the case against him to be dismissed. The vocalist is also looking for his legal costs to be covered by Navarro.
In response, Navarro’s lawyer, Christopher Frost, told People that “the lawsuit speaks for itself”, before adding, “So does the video. By responding in this way, Mr. Farrell is not taking any formal legal step to stop the litigation.”
Frost continued, “This is consistent with the fact that they have taken no affirmative steps to advance their claims, whether serving discovery or otherwise, and it is consistent with the strength of the claims by Dave, Eric, and Stephen.”
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