LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court docket on Thursday revived a toddler sexual exploitation lawsuit filed by the person who appeared bare as a 4-month-old on the quilt of Nirvana’s 1991 album “Nevermind.”

Spencer Elden‘s lawsuit towards the grunge rock group alleges that he has suffered “everlasting hurt” because the band and others profited from the picture of him underwater in a swimming pool, showing to seize for a greenback invoice on a fish hook.

The swimsuit says the picture violated federal legal guidelines on baby sexual abuse materials, though no legal prices have been ever sought.

A federal decide in California threw out the lawsuit final 12 months however allowed Elden to file a revised model, which the decide later dismissed on grounds that it was outdoors the 10-year statute of limitations of one of many legal guidelines used as a explanation for motion.

Thursday’s determination by a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals in California reversed that ruling and despatched the case again to the decrease court docket.

The appellate panel discovered that every republication of a picture “could represent a brand new private harm” with a brand new deadline and cited the picture’s look on a thirtieth anniversary reissue of “Nevermind” in 2021.

“The query whether or not the ‘Nevermind’ album cowl meets the definition of kid pornography shouldn’t be at challenge on this attraction,” the court docket wrote, in response to the New York Instances.

A lawyer for Nirvana members didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail searching for remark Thursday night. Nonetheless, lawyer Bert Deixler issued a press release to Billboard journal calling the ruling a “procedural setback.”

“We’ll defend this meritless case with vigor and count on to prevail,” he stated.

The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been victims of sexual abuse except they’ve repeatedly come ahead publicly, as Elden has.