The band didn’t just lose out on touring income, which the suit suggests was supposed to total $210,000 for each member. Navarro specifically was receiving $25,000 per month from a disability insurance policy after coming down with long COVID-19. “Navarro terminated his $25,000 per month in disability payments in order to return to work with the Band,” the complaint reads. “Had Navarro not terminated the disability payments, and given his condition, Navarro likely would have received the $25,000 payments for several years. For months, Navarro worked hard to prepare himself physically and mentally for touring, including by seeing doctors, nutritionists, and therapists.” Navarro also postponed his wedding in Scotland for the tour, which the suit claims cost him around $50,000 in lost deposits to vendors.
The band was also supposed to release its first album with its original lineup since 1990’s Ritual De Lo Habitual, a project also unsurprisingly derailed by Farrell “abruptly and unilaterally end[ing] all the plans for a Jane’s Addiction revival,” which “left his bandmates holding the bag for an unfulfilled tour and record deal,” according to a statement from Navarro, Avery, and Perkins’ lawyer, Christopher Frost. The band was supposed to deliver 12 songs to their label, ADA, which “Plaintiffs and Defendant will potentially be on the hook personally for, e.g., repayment of the advance,” the suit reads. They also owe $240,000 in unpaid commissions to various members of their crew, including their manager, business manager, and legal team.
The rest of the band isn’t just looking for financial restitution; they’re also seeking accountability for alleged emotional distress. The complaint claims that “Perry had an egregious habit of overruling decisions of the Band, and selfishly making everything about himself and [his wife] Etty.” This habit led them to institute a democratic, “majority rules” system, which the complaint claims both Farrell and his wife violated on several occasions.
There was also the matter of Farrell’s allegedly frequent intoxication, which boiled over into the “unprovoked attack on Navarro,” which was “especially painful… because Perry knew that Navarro was still weak and suffering from the effects of long COVID-19.” The fight allegedly continued when Navarro threw another “unexpected punch” backstage, all of which triggered painful memories of Navarro’s mother’s murder in 1983, the complaint claims.
“Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins had high hopes that they could capture the pure spirit of the band’s early days and build on it. Initially they did, in the studio and onstage. But… they did so with a fourth bandmate who was by turns unwilling or unable to perform to a reasonable standard and who repeatedly threatened to derail the tour,” Frost added in his statement to RS. “Dave, Eric, and Stephen never wanted it to come to this. But they have been wronged, want the accurate story told, and they deserve a resolution.”
