Chris Fehn got some good news in the court room today with his ongoing legal battle with Slipknot. The judge indicated the case would be allowed to proceed, after previously saying one of the counts against a former manager would likely be dismissed.
Fehn claimed Slipknot and their management was keeping money from him in a motion filed earlier this year, setting up corporations that he was not aware of. Fehn had since been dismissed from the band, even though the statement has since been pulled from the band's website. Frontman Corey Taylor has publicly said he and his band are being wrongfully accused. Taylor and Slipknot management have asked for the case to be thrown out.
Representatives for Fehn and Slipknot appeared before Justice Melissa Anne Crane, today, January 3rd, to see if certain parts of the case could be dismissed. MetalSucks reports that representatives for Slipknot and their businesses tried to argue to get the motions dismissed “for failure to state a cause of action.”
Justice Crane began by pressing Fehn’s attorney, Joseph Dunne, on the relationship between the Slipknot partnership and related corporate entities to determine the nature of Fehn’s involvement. Melissa A. Salimbene, an attorney for the defense, argued that there was no partnership, implied or otherwise, between Slipknot and Fehn, while Dunne retorted that whether or not Fehn was included in that partnership, the partnership’s business became the domain of those corporations once they were formed. Crane ultimately sided with the plaintiff’s argument, stating, “My initial reaction is that it’s a valid theory in the alternative. It may not be articulated in the way I’m most familiar with but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Deny motion to dismiss. The partnership became the New York entities, like successor liability in an asset purchase.” She added, “I need to see it [further]. It may be enough. It’s not whether the plaintiff stated a [particular] cause of action but whether they have a cause of action. It stays.”
They attempted to get a few motions moved to different courts because the business entities that Fehn was suing were registered in different states. The Justice stated that because the only business mailing address for the group is listed in New York, that the trial should happen in New York. While the Justice did not make a final decision on the motion, she did discuss details for "document discovery," which would indicate the case is moving forward in some capacity.
There is no date set for any further hearings, but there is a compliance conference set for June 18th. So this will be a long and strung out process. Hit up MetalSucks for more details on today's judgment.
