Former Ghouls Appeal Granted in Ghost Case

Court drama will continue for Ghost

The Ghost lawsuit is set to drag on as a Swedish Court of Appeal has accepted the former Nameless Ghouls‘ appeal. The court has granted Leave to Appeal which means that the evidence will be re-heard by the Court of Appeal and a new decision will be handed down. What this means in plain English is that the Court has agreed that the case should be re-examined only, it does not mean that the result of the previous decision has been changed.

The Court of Appeal can allow an appeal:

• If there is doubt whether the correct decision was reached
• If there was an error in applying the law to the previous decision
• If the judgment created a precedent that needs further examination
• If there is an extraordinary reason why the case should be reheard.

Two weeks ago the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal based around the allegation of a Conflict of Interest when it was revealed that Ghost’s front man and the lead judge in the original hearing, Henrik Ibold, are both members of the Swedish Masonic Order.

It is now up to the Court of Appeal whether they will order a re-hearing or whether they will simply hand down a decision based on the evidence already available to them. The Court of Appeal can either:

• Let the original decision stand
• Overturn the decision, allowing the Ghouls to have access to the accounts of Ghost
• Set the decision aside and order a new hearing.

There is still another appeal in the pipeline which is against the amount of money the former Ghouls were ordered by the court to pay. Ghost’s frontman was not awarded his full costs originally and has appealed the settlement, feeling he should be repaid  the full 2 million SEK (£170,000/194,000 Euros/$224,000), as opposed to the 1.3 million SEK (£111,000/126,000 Euros/$146,000 he was awarded. The former members of Ghost were left to pay 4.2 million SEK (£358,000/407,000 Euros/$470,000) in total.

The original hearing was only whether the former Ghouls should be allowed access the band’s accounts as they felt they were owed money following their departure in 2017.

If the original decision stands then the Court of Appeal will need to decide whether the Ghouls should cover all of Ghost’s legal costs or not. If a new hearing is ordered then all parties will return to court. If the decision is overturned then potentially it could be appealed by Ghost and taken to Sweden’s Supreme Court; although this is unlikely.

It is entirely possible that because the original decision set a legal precedent in Sweden which could have international ramifications, that the Court of Appeal will allow the decision to stand but will back it with further evidence to fully illustrate how the decision was reached and why the law should be applied in this manner.