IN 2021, the man who as a baby was photographed naked for the cover of U.S. band Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album sued the band for sexual exploitation — and now a California judge has dismissed the case on procedural grounds.

The federal judge dismissed the case Monday as Spencer Elden’s legal team had missed a deadline to file an opposition to Nirvana lawyers’ December motion to drop the case.

Elden’s team has until Jan. 13 to refile. In a statement Tuesday, his lawyer Robert Lewis said they would do so “very soon.”

In 1991, when he was 4 months old, Elden was photographed naked in a swimming pool reaching for a dollar bill on a fish hook, an image that become one of the most iconic album covers of all time.

The album went on to sell 30 million copies, with songs such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” becoming American pop cultural touchstones.

But neither Elden nor his legal guardians “ever signed a release authorizing the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him,” the original lawsuit said.

According to court documents, Elden asked for US$150,000 in damages from each of the 15 defendants. The lawsuit said Elden had suffered “extreme and permanent emotional distress,” as well as “lifelong loss of income earning capacity.”

Elden recreated the album cover multiple times, including for its 25th anniversaries. Weddle, the original photographer, was a friend of his father’s, the family told NPR in 2008.

They held a pool party during which Elden was photographed underwater for the then-unknown band. Elden’s parents were paid US$200 for the original shoot. (SD-Agencies）