Two months after Jane’s Addiction members Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins filed a $10 million lawsuit against frontman Perry Farrell over the fallout from their aborted 2024 summer tour, which ended in onstage fisticuffs, the singer has responded with a legal filing of his own.
According to documents obtained by People, Farrell lists 35 affirmative defenses. They include claims that Navarro has “unclean hands,” “fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against,” and “failed to exercise reasonable care and diligence to mitigate [the] alleged claims and damages.”
The frontman also says he acted in “good faith and without malice” toward the guitarist. He’s seeking attorney fees and legal costs related to the case.
“Our lawsuit speaks for itself,” Christopher Frost, an attorney for Navaro, Avery, and Perkins, says in a written statement to Rolling Stone. “So does the video. By responding in this way, Mr. Farrell is not taking any formal legal step to stop the litigation. 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.”
The 2024 Jane’s Addiction reunion tour — which marked the first time since 2010 all four founding members of the band hit the road together — began with great promise.
“We’re playing smaller rooms,” an excited Navarro told Rolling Stone in August 2024. “We have new material. We’re way stripped back on production and just more interested in moods and textures and drones, and having things be sonically experimental rather than, ‘Here comes the dog-barking song [‘Been Caught Stealing’].’ We seem to have found a depth within ourselves that we weren’t maybe able to reach in our younger years.”
The early shows in Europe generated rave reviews. But when the tour came to America, Farrell began acting erratically onstage. At a New York City show on September 10, 2024, he was barely able to sing and spoke to the crowd in a borderline incoherent fashion. Three days later, he punched Navarro at a show in Boston during “Ocean Size.” Video of the moment went viral.
“This weekend has been incredibly difficult and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family and friends for my actions during Friday’s show,” Farrell wrote on Instagram the next day. “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”
Before the week was out, the tour was cancelled. In July, Navarro, Avery, and Perkins filed a lawsuit against Farrell. It accuses him of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract.
“The Band can no longer function as a result of the Defendant’s conduct, including his sudden, violent outbursts and demonstrated inability to serve as the Band’s frontman and vocalist,” the 36-page complaint says. “The physical, emotional, and financial harms Defendant has wrought have deeply impacted the Plaintiffs, their families, and their loved ones, and it is time for Defendant to face the consequences of his actions and be held accountable.”
“This is yet another clear example of the group uniting to isolate and bully frontman Perry Farrell,” Farrell’s attorney, Miles Cooley, said in a statement following the lawsuit. “The timing of this baseless lawsuit is no coincidence — it was filed only after they caught wind of legal action coming from our side. It’s a transparent attempt to control the narrative and present themselves as the so-called ‘good guys’ —a move that’s both typical and predictable. Just like when they released a defamatory and entirely unfounded statement about Perry’s mental health and unilaterally canceled the remaining tour dates without his input, they’re once again scrambling to get ahead of the truth in a desperate effort to save face.”
The group has given very few interviews over the last year. But Navarro did speak to Guitar Player in May. “The onstage altercation] forever destroyed the band’s life,” he said. “And there’s no chance for the band to ever play together again.”
