Messages about caper involving Cobain’s guitar must be revealed

The estranged business manager of Courtney Love must provide access to text messages a plaintiff says will prove their involvement in an alleged heist-turned-kidnapping to recover the guitar of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Randolph Hammock additionally ordered defendant Sam Lutfi to pay $2,060 in sanctions, according to a notice of ruling filed Thursday by plaintiff's counsel Douglas Unger.

Lutfi, who in recent years has been a subject of tabloid infamy through his rocky representation of now-former clients like Love and pop star Britney Spears, has until Jan. 31 to produce the text messages. He was named alongside Love as a defendant in a complaint filed in May 2018 by Isaiah J. Silva, who at the time of the alleged incident was married to Frances Bean Cobain.

The text messages will be key in proving Lutfi threatened Silva's friends in order to obtain the security codes to his home, Unger wrote previously in support of the motion to compel discovery,.which he used to break into Silva's home. Silva v. Courtney Love et al., BC707927 (L.A. Super., filed May 25, 2018).

Lutfi allegedly sent a series of increasingly threatening texts to Silva demanding he agree to a number of terms amidst his 2017 divorce from Bean Cobain, the complaint alleges, among them the return of Cobain's guitar. A 1959 Remy Martin given to Bean Cobain following her father's 1994 death, Silva said she'd gifted it to him at the time of their engagement.

Silva claims after becoming aware of the intruder, Lutfi and his associates ended up stealing him away from his own home in full view of Silva's friends, who reported the matter to police. Though officers acting on the call did a check-in on the car, according to the complaint, they took no further action once Silva told them they were "old college friends," allegedly under force of threat.

Unger claims the police intervention once again prompted the kidnappers to shift gears, returning Silva to his home, where they spent hours badgering him into agreeing to settlement terms of the divorce that included the guitar's turnover.

Despite the text turnover in favor of the plaintiff, Love and other defendants are hoping the next stage of the litigation will be up close and personal. The court has granted a request from defense counsel at Lavely & Singer LLP, led by partner Todd S. Eagan, for a Feb. 21 hearing to force Silva's deposition.

Notably, Eagan is looking to preserve the defendant's right to be in the room for the deposition, according to a Jan. 10 filing. While Silva's counsel claims the presence of Love and other defendants would be emotionally and mentally damaging, Eagan argues there's no medical basis to support that claim.

"Moreover, were Silva's concerns about being in the same room as the defendants genuine, he would have raised them seven months ago when the deposition was originally noticed," Eagan wrote.

Unger did not respond to a request for comment Friday, nor did Eagan.

Brian S. Kabateck, a civil and criminal litigator at Kabateck LLP not involved in the matter, said it's exceptionally rare for a court to deny a defendant the right to appear for their accuser's deposition. While being in the same room as his alleged kidnapper is an understandable cause for anxiety, Kabateck said Silva isn't going in there without backup.

"The court has broad powers to grant protective orders, so an exclusion order would be fairly extraordinary. They have the right to be there in their own defense," Kabateck said. "They could find some alternative -- do it in the courthouse or with a special master to oversee the deposition, have security there. There's all sorts of things they could do."