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COURT WON’T HEAR OZZY OSBOURNE DISPUTE:

May 3, 2004

Who knew? Ozzy Osbourne is apparently a big hit with the Supremes.

The Supreme Court, that is.

The highest law of the land handed the Prince of F—ing Darkness a legal victory on Monday when it refused to hear a petition filed by two backup musicians, who claim Osbourne screwed them out of royalties for two of his classic albums.

By not taking the appeal, Antonin “Ironman” Scalia and his eight robe-wearing pals essentially sided with a lower-court ruling in favor of Osbourne that declared bass player Robert Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake were not entitled to any money from work done on the rocker’s first post-Sabbath solo releases in the early ’80s, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.

Daisley and Kerslake had sued Osbourne, his manager-wife, Sharon, and Sony Music and Epic Records in 1998 after Ozzy rereleased the albums but digitally erased the musicians from the discs and replacing them with newly recorded bass and drum tracks to avoid paying royalties.

Daisley and Kerslake claimed the heavy-metal icon owed them for their contributions, despite the fact they were let go in 1981. The songs they played on have since popped up in a number of television ads and have been used in NFL games.

“Their music is literally everywhere,” the duo’s Los Angeles-based attorney, Nate Kraus, asserted in the petition.

The Osbournes fired back, however. “Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake have harassed Ozzy and our family for several years,” said Sharon in 2002. “Because of their abusive and unjust behavior, Ozzy wanted to remove them from these recordings. We turned a negative into a positive by adding a fresh sound to the original albums.”

Unfortunately for Daisley and Kerslake, a federal judge agreed and issued a summary judgment dismissing their complaint.

Last October, a federal appeals court refused to overturn the decision, prompting the session players to try and make their case before the Supreme Court.

With one legal battle out of the way, Ozzy can focus on another.

He has filed a complaint with California’s medical board against a Beverly Hills physician Osbourne says was overmedicating him with such prescription drugs as Dexedrine, Valium, and Zyprexa. The rocker claims the unwarranted doses caused his blitzed-out behavior recently on The Osbournes.

Josh Grossberg courtesy of E! Online