Attorneys defending Gene Simmons and other individuals associated with the band KISS filed court papers asking that a former hairstylist suing the band for wrongful termination be prevented from telling a jury about a separate case filed against the hard rock group concerning the death of a guitar technician who toured with the musicians.
In the underlying Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, David Mathews alleges he was wrongfully fired from his job as a hairstylist in 2022 after he was incorrectly accused of being the source of a magazine article talking about lax coronavirus protocol within the band. Mathews also maintains he is owed unpaid wages and overtime money.
Judge Armen Tamzarian heard arguments Friday on a defense motion to dismiss Mathews’ claims for wrongful termination, retaliation and state Labor Code violations, then took the issues under submission. Trial is scheduled Jan. 22.
But defense lawyers filed a flurry of pretrial motions on Monday anyway, one of them pertaining to a wrongful death lawsuit brought in Santa Monica Superior Court in October 2023 by Catherine Stueber, the widow of Fran Stueber, a guitar technician for co-lead vocalist Paul Stanley.
According to KISS lawyers, the 53-year-old Stueber, in violation of the written coronavirus protocols for the planned End of the World tour, submitted a fake vaccination card and then refused to seek medical attention after contracting COVID-19, despite being repeatedly urged by band members and tour officials. Stueber died in October 2021 at age 53.
“The only reason for plaintiff to seek the introduction of such evidence is to inflame a jury — and prejudice defendants,” the band attorneys argue in their court papers. “As such, if evidence of the Stueber lawsuit is permitted at trial, it would severely prejudice defendants, and interfere with the right to a fair trial.”
An exclusion on any mention of the Stueber suit will “save valuable court time and will prevent plaintiff from surreptitiously inviting the jury to speculate as to prejudicial matter,” the band attorneys state in their court papers.
The KISS attorneys also want to exclude any evidence of the band’s financial worth unless the defendants are held liable for punitive damages to Mathews. The lawyers additionally maintain the Mathews jurors should not hear about music manager Harold “Doc” McGhee’s 1988 conviction for alleged importation of marijuana six years earlier. McGhee, 74, has worked with KISS, Bon Jovi, Hootie & the Blowfish and Motley Crue.
In his suit brought in February 2023, Mathews maintains he urged the defendants to “force” Stueber to get medical attention and that he told Stueber in front of some of the defendants that he needed to go to the hospital.