Courtney Love is having more problems with her lawyers.
Love is currently defending herself against one of her former attorneys, Rhonda Holmes, who claims she was defamed when the flamboyant rocker suggested on Twitter that she was “bought off.” That case hasn’t been going well for Love, and now it’s gotten worse. Love’s new attorneys at the Pryor Cashman firm are seeking to withdraw representation because they haven’t been paid and because Love has become unresponsive.
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According to a declaration submitted in Los Angeles Superior Court by Pryor Cashman partner James Janowitz earlier this month, Love is in allegedly in breach of her fee agreement with the firm. The attorney reports that payment has been demanded from Love, but that she hasn’t made any “satisfactory proposal” to pay arrears.
Janowitz also puts a harsh light on what it’s like to represent Love:
“Over the past several months, Ms. Love has rendered it impossible for Pryor Cashman to carry out its employment effectively. Ms. Love is completely unresponsive to Pryor Cashman’s attempts to contact her. She has cancelled meetings with me with barely any notice on several occasions and has refused to return the calls of other attorneys on her legal team at the firm. She has also refused to respond to our letters. As a result, we have had no substantive communication with Ms. Love in several months and we cannot effectively represent her.”
The alleged “complete breakdown” of communication and payments has caused Pryor Cashman to submit a motion to be relieved as counsel for the singer. In addition to the Holmes case, the Pryor Cashman firm also is representing Love in two ongoing matters in New York, including a dispute over the singer’s alleged failure to pay for security. The firm is also looking to bow out of those cases as well.
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The court documents were sent our way by Carmela Kelly, a blogger who tells us that hearings have been scheduled to discuss the motions in New York today and in Los Angeles in May.
E-mail: eriq.gardner@thr.com
Twitter: @eriqgardner
