Motley Crue on lawsuit's witness list

The personal injury lawsuit is set to go to mediation, but the sides remain far apart.

By CHASE SQUIRES

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 17, 2000

DADE CITY -- Rocker Nikki Sixx plans to enlist the aid of his entire band this spring, promising to bring some star power to Dade City.

[AP] Motley Crue bass player Nikki Sixx, center front, is named in a lawsuit claiming he tossed a guitar from the stage that hit a woman in the head. Band members Vince Neil, left, Tommy Lee, rear, and Mick Mars may be called to testify at trial.

Attorneys for Sixx, bass player for the hard rock band Motley Crue, listed band members on the defense witness list this week. Expected to appear at the scheduled April 10 trial are Mick Mars, Vince Neil and notorious Tommy Lee, a regular tabloid news target who did jail time for striking his wife at the time, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson Lee.

Hudson residents Garnet and Josephine Allen sued Motley Crue and Sixx -- also known as Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrano -- in 1998. Josephine Allen, 35, says Sixx hurled his bass guitar into the crowd at the 1997 Livestock rock festival in Zephyrhills, striking her on the head.

Her suit says she suffered brain damage and has trouble concentrating.

The Allens' attorney, Palm Harbor lawyer Michael Reeser, said Tuesday he expects the case to go to trial.

"We're very far apart," he said.

When he filed the suit, Reeser said he had tried repeatedly to settle the case without going to court, but his offers were rejected.

A judge has ordered the two sides to attempt mediation next month, but Reeser said so far, the band has yet to accept responsibility.

Band attorney Kent Whittemore agreed on Wednesday the two sides are far from settling the issue but said he would make a good faith effort to resolve the problems in mediation. He said the band denies throwing the guitar, and there are also questions about the role of the crowd and the Allens, as well as the true extent of her injury.

Whittemore said Josephine Allen has also made comments during the discovery phase that show she blames some of her troubles on on-air comments made by radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge.

Reeser said he has witnesses who saw the flying instrument.

Whittemore, in court papers, advises the court that he plans to call the band and support crews and will also enter a videotape of the 1997 concert. He said Wednesday he could not comment on trial strategy but said if Sixx is subpoenaed, he would definitely comply and appear in person.

In 1998, Whittemore responded to the Allens' suit by demanding proof that Josephine Allen was actually injured and claiming the injuries "were caused by the negligence of plaintiffs or other third parties over whom defendants exercised no control."

California-based Motley Crue was a major force in the 1980s music scene with hit songs including Girls, Girls, Girls and a remake of Smokin' in the Boys Room. Among the band's 10 albums produced since 1981 are Shout at the Devil and Theatre of Pain.

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