DUBLIN, Ireland – The Edge, the lead guitarist of U2, is fighting an Irish newspaper in court over its report into a relative’s serious illness that forced the Irish rock band to delay the start of its next world tour.
A High Court judge in Dublin agreed Monday to a two-week delay to the hearing of rival lawsuits between The Edge and the Sunday World newspaper.
The Dublin-based tabloid identified the relative and condition the person was suffering in a front-page story Jan. 8, but withdrew the report from later editions when The Edge’s lawyers immediately obtained a temporary injunction.
This barred the Sunday World from repeating its story and warned other Irish newspapers not to pick it up, claiming it amounted to an unwarranted invasion of privacy. The Edge wants the injunction to be strengthened into a permanent injunction against publication.
The Sunday World wants the injunction overturned. Its lawyers are arguing that the details of the relative’s illness are newsworthy because they are cited the reason why U2 has delayed the U.S. start of its new “Vertigo 2005” tour. Originally slated for March 1 in Miami, Florida, it now is supposed to start March 28 in San Diego, California.
The Edge, whose birth name is David Evans, married Aislinn O’Sullivan in 1983 and had three daughters with her. They broke up seven years later and divorced in 1996.
The Edge, 43, has two children with Morleigh Steinberg, a belly dancer and choreographer from the band’s “Zoo TV” tour. They married in 2002.
