Rocker Tom Scholz is "disappointed" U.S. Superior Court judges have shut down his bid to revive his longrunning defamation lawsuit against Boston Herald newspaper publishers.
The founder of the group Boston launched legal action against Herald editors and Inside Track columnists Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa in 2010 after they suggested he was partly responsible for late bandmate Brad Delp's 2007 suicide.
In the article in question, the writers cited an interview with the tragic star's ex-wife Micki as evidence her former husband had taken his own life when Scholz fired his close friend, Fran Cosmo, from the band's touring line-up.
The guitarist vehemently denied the allegations, and accused Herald bosses of ruining his reputation by publishing the story. He sued the newspaper and Micki Delp in two separate suits, but they were thrown out of court in 2011, only to be reinstated by authorities, and then rejected for a second time in 2013.
Scholz challenged both rulings again in U.S. Superior Court, but his latest effort was also dismissed on Monday (06Jun16).
A representative for the More Than a Feeling hitmaker has now responded to the legal setback, insisting he simply wanted the opportunity to set the record straight in court.
"Mr. Scholz has been fighting to clear his name and to hold the Boston Herald accountable for a series of false articles that wrongly blamed him for Brad Delp's suicide," reads a statement issued to WENN. "He is disappointed that in denying Cert. (Petition for Writ of Certiorari), the Court has decided to allow a tabloid newspaper to avoid having a jury decide the facts.
"As a result of Mr. Scholz's lawsuit, we now know, based largely on Brad's own final emails and suicide notes, that his tragic suicide resulted from difficulties in his own personal life, and were entirely unrelated to his working relationship with Mr. Scholz."
Delp was known to have struggled with depression and, in his last notes, he detailed his lifelong battle with the blues and the suicidal feelings he had been fighting since he was a teen.
Court documents about his final emails also revealed an embarrassing incident shortly before his death had left him feeling deep shame, after his roommate, Meg Sullivan - the sister of Brad's fiancee Pamela, had discovered a hidden video camera installed in her bedroom.
Meg confronted her sister's boyfriend in March, 2007, after which Delp "purchased two charcoal grills", which he later used and "asphyxiated himself".
The statement from Scholz's rep continues: "Based on these undisputed events immediately prior to Brad Delp's death, Mr. Scholz disagrees that the cause of Brad's suicide is unknowable. Mr. Scholz believes this decision will have adverse consequences well beyond his case against the Herald because it regrettably means that people are largely free to accuse another of causing someone's suicide, even when, as here, the accusation is false.
"In the end, Mr. Scholz remains saddened by the loss of his friend and bandmate, Brad Delp."