Former Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist in court battle over royalties

<p>A dispute between a former guitarist for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd and his attorney over royalty payments for songs such as "Sweet Home Alabama" will be heard by the state's highest court on Thursday.</p><p>The Court of Appeals will hear arguments over whether the attorney who represented Edward King can continue to collect part of King's royalty payments after winning the guitarist a settlement with MCA Records Inc.</p><p>King joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1972 and co-wrote several of the band's biggest hits. He left the band in the midst of a tour in 1975 and three months later began consulting lawyers about securing royalties from the recording company. In October 1977, three members of the band, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines were killed in a plane crash. Surviving members continue to perform.</p><p>King hired lawyer Lawrence Fox under an agreement that Fox would get "one-third of the recovery, whether by way of settlement, trial, judgment or other method."</p><p>Fox contends that he explained to King he would collect one-third of all future and past due royalties, but King claims he understood the agreement applied only to past-due royalties, but not future ones.</p><p>Fox won a settlement in which MCA agreed to pay all royalties owed, including $213,000 past due. Future writer's and artist's royalties were sent to Fox, who deducted one-third and forwarded the remainder to King. Fox also represented King in a later action against MCA for royalties for guitar work on other band recordings.</p><p>In 1987, at King's request, Fox stopped taking his share of the writer's royalties, but he did not return any of the $55,000 in those royalties he had already taken. He continued to take a third of the artist royalties until 1995.</p><p>In total, Fox collected $527,000 from about $1.5 million in royalties King received.</p><p>The guitarist sued Fox in 1997 in federal court to recover some of the fees with Fox countersued for the portion of the royalties King received since 1995.</p><p>Fox won in U.S. District Court, but King appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the case to New York's highest court to resolve several questions of New York contract law. The Court of Appeals arguments will be heard in Suffolk County.</p><p>_____</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc868)</p>