Her rock band is Hole, and now Courtney Love is in a financial one.
A Manhattan judge has found the grunge goddess is responsible for more than $100,000 worth of jewelry that went missing last year, and Love is going to have to pay it back.
Love borrowed the bling from jeweler-to-the-stars Jacob & Co. last year in order to doll herself up for a charity event at Cipriani’s called “The New Yorkers for Children Benefit.”
The baubles she borrowed included two “ladies white gold diamond chains,” one “white gold floral mesh cuff bracelet” and one pair of “gold diamond pave hoop earrings,” court papers say.
To try to ensure their return from the famously troubled widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, the bling’s owner, Jacob “The Jeweler” Arabo, had Love sign a memo acknowledging that the chains were valued at $34,200 each, that the earrings were worth $45,300 and the bracelet’s value was $70,000, and that all the pieces had to be returned to Jacob “on demand,” court papers say.
Love said she tried to give them back, but something went wrong.
“Love states that, after the charity event, she placed both chains and the earrings in a bag and delivered them to the staff at the Mercer Hotel, where she was residing at the time, with instructions to return it to Jacob,” Justice Doris Ling-Cohan wrote in her decision.
Love said she continued to wear the bracelet, but eventually gave it to hotel staff as well, with orders for them to return it to the jeweler.
“Love alleges that the Mercer staff returned the bracelet to Jacob, but that they lost the bag containing the chains and earrings,” the ruling says.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Love’s lawyer, James Janowitz, “but Courtney doesn’t have the jewels.”
Court filings say the “People vs. Larry Flynt” star filed a police report over the missing pieces last November, but they still have not been tracked down.
Jacob filed suit against the raunchy rocker soon after, demanding she pay $113,000 plus interest
“Her detention and retention of the chain and the earrings are wrong,” said the company’s filing.
In a ruling made public yesterday, Ling-Cohan agreed that Love is on the hook for the missing jewelry, but said that doesn’t necessarily mean she should write Jacob a check for the full $113,000.
“Jacob seeks to rely on the retail price of the lost jewelry that is recited in the memo,” but he’s entitled only to “reasonable value/market value,” the judge said.
Janowitz praised the judge’s decision, saying Jacob “isn’t entitled to some ridiculous markup. He’s only out of pocket what he paid for them.”
The lawyer also wants any damages Love has to pay to be offset by any insurance money the jeweler has collected.
In court filings, Jacob & Co. said it hasn’t put in a claim.
Love shouldn’t have much of a problem coming up with the cash — she was the main beneficiary of the estate of her late husband.