Judges dismiss case against Ghost frontman and order ex members to cover his costs

Updated at 15:22 GMT

Why are stage names used in this story?

A double whammy of good news for Ghost today – first their Dance Macabre video is released and now the case brought by four ex members of the band has been dismissed.

The former Ghouls will not only have to cover their own legal bill but that of Cardinal Copia‘s lawyer too. However, the court ruled that the 2 million SEK (£170,000/194,000 Euros/$224,000) that Copia’s lawyer charged was for work that was beyond reasonable and so the Ghouls will have to pay 1.3 million SEK (£111,000/126,000 Euros/$146,000) of that bill along with their own lawyer’s costs of 2.9 million SEK (£247,000/281,000 Euros/$324,000).

That leaves Copia to find 700,000 SEK (£60,000/68,000 Euros/$78,000) while the former Ghouls will need to pay 4.2 million SEK (£358,000/407,000 Euros/$470,000).

The former Ghouls were looking to have the band’s accounts opened as they felt that the man behind the Cardinal Copia character had hidden money from them and underpaid them for their time with the band. The Metal Report covered the trial extensively as it happened, the original reports can be found in the Exclusives section of the site.

The news is incredibly surprising as it seemed like the result would go in the favour of the Ghouls, but evidently the judges did not feel that the ex members were part of the band and had been hired musicians; thereby negating their need to see the accounts. The full 108 page judgment has already been released to the public.

The judgment’s conclusion was that

“Overall, the plaintiffs have not been able to demonstrate that agreements between them, or any of them, and [Cardinal Copia] have been concluded regarding a common purpose and obligation to act for this in the Ghost music group as a single company. The district court thus denies the whole of the case. “

Ann-Charlotte Söderlund Björk is quoted by NT Sweden as saying

“We are very pleased with the judgment. My client is very happy. This judgment is positive for the music industry. It would have been a disaster for the industry if the outcome had been different.“

She went on to say that the court was “stubborn” regarding her costs as the case had been “work intensive“.

The Metal Report reached out to two of the former Ghouls, one of whom says that they have no comment at this time. The Ghouls have until the 7th of November to appeal the decision.

As a breaking story this page is likely to be updated later today.

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Metal Report Editor. Ex guitarist in Zenopede, ex vocals for a goth covers band that was hailed as the future of Welsh music, former DJ, promoter and nightclub director. Writer for Gear4Geeks’ Blog4Geeks and owner of Gear4Geeks ltd. First published music critique was Kerrang letter of the Week. Definitely has never been the future, present or past of Welsh music.