Jane’s Addiction members sue singer Perry Farrell for $10 million — and he sues them back

Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins’ action follows a 2024 onstage altercation that ended their tour.

Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction performing in New York City on Sept. 10, 2024.Credit: Astrida Valigorsky/Getty

Three members of Jane’s Addiction are suing lead singer Perry Farrell — and he sued his former bandmates a few hours later in a separate lawsuit.

Following an onstage altercation in September 2024 that led to the band’s breakup, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery, and drummer Stephen Perkins filed a lawsuit against the vocalist in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday.

In the band’s complaint, which has been reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, Navarro accused Farrell of assault and battery, while all three musicians alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and indemnity and contribution. The bandmates are seeking at least $10 million in damages.

Lawyers for Farrell responded to the suit’s allegations in a statement to EW.

“This is yet another clear example of the group uniting to isolate and bully frontman Perry Farrell,” the singer’s attorneys said. “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.”

Meanwhile, Navarro’s attorney, Christopher Frost, shared his own statement.

“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,” Frost said. “Ultimately, with the attack on Dave Navarro seen around the world, Perry Farrell abruptly and unilaterally ended all the plans for a Jane’s Addiction revival. He also left his bandmates holding the bag for an unfulfilled tour and record deal, as our lawsuit explains in detail.”

In a separate lawsuit, Farrell accused Navarro and Avery of assault and battery, and all three of his ex-bandmates of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract/bylaws. The suit was filed alongside the singer’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, and Wilton Hilton, the band’s touring company, as plaintiffs. The vocalist’s complaint argues that Navarro and Avery instigated the Boston altercation.

Farrell’s complaint alleged that the band members “have sometimes been antagonistic towards each other,” accusing them of “a campaign of harassment and bullying of Farrell to try to undermine him during his onstage performances.” The complaint claimed that Navarro and Avery “unlawfully escalated the altercation into real physical violence” in Boston, and that the three musicians overruled the vocalist by pulling the plug on the tour.

Frost responded to Farrell’s complaint in a separate statement: “If there is a question about what to believe, you can believe the video we’ve all watched. Today’s complaint from Perry, including his account of events backstage after the September 13 show, is revisionist history. It won’t stand.”

Perry Farrell performing with Jane’s Addiction in 2022.Astrida Valigorsky/Getty

The band made headlines last year when Farrell appeared to throw a punch at Navarro during a performance in Boston, which fans captured on video. The encounter caused Avery and crew members to step in to create distance between the vocalist and the guitarist, and unceremoniously ended the show.

“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 social media after the incident. “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”

The altercation led Jane’s Addiction to once again disband, canceling the remainder of their U.S. tour.

“Due to a continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our singer Perry Farrell, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to discontinue the current US tour,” the other members of the band said in a statement. “Our concern for his personal health and safety as well as our own has left us no alternative. We hope that he will find the help he needs.”

In their complaint, the band accused Perry of throwing “a wild punch” at Navarro, and that the musicians were “rightfully afraid and uncomfortable to perform” alongside Farrell following the altercation.

“It was also abundantly clear that Perry was in no condition to continue the Tour on which he had struggled to perform,” according to the lawsuit.

In his own complaint, Farrell claimed that the other band members frequently turned their instruments’ volume levels up so that he wouldn’t be able to hear his vocals as “a means of bullying.” This would cause the singer to increase his in-ear monitor volume, leading to “advanced hearing loss.” Farrell claimed that Navarro intentionally increased his guitar’s volume to aggravate the singer in Boston.

However, the trio’s lawsuit rejected that explanation for Farrell’s frustration, claiming that the singer “refused to attend any rehearsals” and that he never asked the crew or his bandmates to adjust the volume levels on stage. Their complaint noted that “there would be no benefit” to making Perry “look bad” on stage as they mounted a reunion tour.

In the vocalist’s telling of the Boston altercation, he merely “reacted” to Navarro’s excessive volume by “body-checking” the guitarist, at which point Navarro and Avery responded with “an inappropriate violent escalation.” The complaint also claimed that Navarro “menacingly charged at and aggressively assaulted” Farrell and his wife backstage after the initial scuffle.

The singer’s complaint later claimed that the band’s statement about the incident was “libelous” due to its insistence that his supposed “mental health difficulties” made him “somehow a danger to himself and to them.”

The other members’ complaint also alleged that the incident disrupted Jane’s Addiction’s plans for a new album, for which they had already released two songs with Farrell and recorded eight more without him. Since the band claims they are unable to fulfill their contractual obligations to deliver a new album to Warner Music subsidiary ADA, they say they owe a repayment of their advance from the label.

As a result, the trio of musicians is seeking damages, citing the loss of profits that would have come from album sales and the canceled shows, as well as “expenses incurred in connection with the Tour” and “diminished value of the Band’s intellectual property.”

In his suit, Farrell is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages, citing “physical injury due to assault and battery, severe emotional distress and mental suffering,” as well as “significant legal, financial and reputational harm” to the band’s company.