Rocker Courtney Love is heading to trial over allegedly defamatory Twitter.com posts she shared about her former lawyer in 2010.

The former Hole frontwoman was slapped with legal action from bosses at Gordon & Holmes in 2011 amid accusations Love had caused damage to the California firm's reputation with her social media updates.

The messages, posted online in June, 2010, suggested her former attorney, company partner Rhonda Holmes, had been "bought off" with a bribe as she investigated a fraud case concerning the reported mismanagement of her late husband Kurt Cobain's estate.

Love's new legal representatives argued in court that the tweets in question were opinion based and didn't qualify as defamation as she didn't identify the name of the law firm, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson dismissed the claims, insisting the star should be more cautious about what she posts online because of her fame.

During a hearing on Friday morning (20Dec13), he stated, "Ms. Love has a big following and they all hang on everything she does and says and Tweets."

The case will now be heard by a jury in January (14).

Love filed her own lawsuit against Holmes earlier this year (13), accusing the attorney of legal malpractice after allegedly making false statements about her to her daughter with Cobain, Frances Bean Cobain, in a 2009 letter. Holmes, who represented the musician from 2008 to 2009, has denied the charges and argued the note was actually written by the singer.