Courtney Love Indebted To Lawyers

CURBED: Hollywood big's $800k IRS headache

JANUARY 20--Just as Catherine Zeta-Jones was emerging as TSG's favorite Left Coast litigant, Courtney Love steps up--again. The rambunctious rocker is being sued by a California law firm that claims she owes $228,926 for legal work performed in connection with Love's contentious--and since settled--lawsuit against her former record label. According to this complaint, filed last month in Santa Barbara Superior Court, Love has stiffed Cappello & McCann for work the firm did during her two-year legal fight with Universal Music Group. According to a recent account statement, after paying an initial retainer of $50,000 when she retained the firm in February 2001, Love has run up a six-figure bill that she has ignored. The nonpayment suit is the latest civil action faced by Love, who has defended cases brought by former employees, an ex-landlord, and a Hawaiian spa. Not to mention those pesky drug charges. A Love lawyer, who had not seen the new complaint, declined comment on the Cappello & McCann charges. (6 pages)