Earthburner’s Jeremy Wagner Files Suit Over Fraud Photos

I could not imagine how pissed I’d be if I found out something I spent so much money and time on finding turned out to be tarnished or fake. Especially if it’s something I covet with all sides of my heart. That’s what happened to Jeremy Wagner, the guitarist for Earthburner and Broken Hope. It seems like he may have got got, and he’s suing in an attempt to get some damn justice.

Wagner is like, a hella big rock memorabilia collector, and everyone pretty much knows that, which is why it seems particularly shitty and stupid to fake him out. Wagner filed a suit against photographer Ross Halfin and his company RHP Ltd., saying they falsely claimed four Lynyrd Skynyrd pics to be his own. Filed in the Circuit Court of Lake County, Illinois, Wagner claims three of the pictures were taken by Barry Plummer, and the fourth one was taken by an unknown photographer.

I guess he paid over $7,000 for the prints thinking that the photos were originally taken by Halfin. Wagner claims in the suit that Halfin cropped and tainted the contact sheets to hide Plummer’s credit, signing the pics as his own. One of the pictures is called “Nuthin Fancy 1975,” a color photo that Halfin claimed to have taken earlier in his career, even though he’s on record saying he started his photo career by shooting AC/DC in 1976.

Wagner managed to find another niche photo-head in Iain Monk, who’s a Lynyrd Skynyrd photo expert (who the hell knew this was a thing?). Monk confirmed the bullshittery of Halfin’s claims over the photos, leading to Wagner’s demand for compensation, reimbursement for legal fees, and punitive damages.

January 6 (is anyone else triggered by this date?) was the first court hearing, with the next to happen on February 3. This one will determine whether the case stays in small claims court or becomes a bigger case for the total damages.

Good grief.

Photos via Heavy Mental