The estate of Jimi Hendrix has seen more than its fair share of legal controversies. In yet another legal battle, the estate is suing for the return of a guitar it claims was stolen.
Jimi Hendrix owned a lot of guitars, but relatively few of them made it back to his estate after he passed away. One of those that did was his Black Widow guitar. Through the estate of Hendrix's father, this guitar eventually passed to Hendrix Experience LLC, along with the rest of Hendrix's estate.
Hendrix Experience is currently managed by Hendrix's sister Janie. In 2014, an auction house contacted Hendrix Experience to get the guitar authenticated, which alerted the company that the guitar was missing. The guitar was actually in the possession of a man named Brian Patterson. Patterson later sold the guitar to Harvey Moltz. Patterson claims that he purchased the guitar from Sheldon Reynolds. This is where the lawsuit comes in.
Sheldon Reynolds is a former member of Earth, Wind & Fire and Janie Hendrix's ex-husband. Janie claims that Reynolds stole the guitar. Patterson claims to have a letter that states Janie Hendrix gave the guitar to Reynolds while they were married. The estate is suing Moltz and seeking the return of the guitar. Of course, if he's ordered to return it, he can sue Patterson, who can turn around and sue Reynolds. The Daily Mail has more on this story in "Shop is sued over 'stolen' Jimi Hendrix's Black Widow guitar worth nearly $1MILLION."
One interesting note to this story is that even if Janie Hendrix did give the guitar to Reynolds, the estate still might be able to recover the guitar. Although she is the CEO of Hendrix Experience LLC, it is unclear if she would have had the authority to give the guitar away as a gift in her personal capacity.
Reference: Daily Mail (October 11, 2015) "Shop is sued over 'stolen' Jimi Hendrix's Black Widow guitar worth nearly $1MILLION."
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