I did some searching online and came across the below, posted at a web site called The Docket --
http://blogs.masslawyersweekly.com/n...from-the-funk/
I still don't understand how anyone could imagine that PBS owed anyone that kind of money.
"The Docket
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s news blog
* Mass. Lawyers Weekly HOMEPAGE
* Home
* About
Judge: New Orleans band must give up (money from) the funk
June 29th, 2010 | by noahs |
Legendary New Orleans bassist George Porter Jr., best known for his work with The Meters, played to thousands of music fans this past weekend at a New Jersey festival – but he’ll only be pocketing three-quarters of the money that he earned from the gig.
The other quarter will go to an escrow account a Boston judge has ordered Porter, along with his former bandmates guitarist Brian Stoltz and drummer Russell Batiste Jr., to set up pending resolution of a lawsuit brought by the Somerville-based manager of their erstwhile group Porter Batiste Stoltz.
The manager, Phil Stepanian of Highsteppin’ Productions, claims that the three members owe him hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for crew members and travel costs as well as for loans he made.
Stepanian also claims that while their business relationship was souring last fall, Porter interfered with Highsteppin’s business opportunities by taking for himself a gig that originally had been offered to Bonerama, another New Orleans-based act managed by Stepanian.
While the three defendants have denied the claims and asked that the case be moved to a Louisiana court, U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton has issued a series of restraining orders and injunctions ordering that monies earned by the three musicians be placed in escrow. Among the gigs specifically mentioned by Gorton were a private New Year’s Eve party at Boston’s House of Blues and the Jam Cruise music festival that sailed around the Caribbean in January. Gorton’s order includes monies from concerts, record sales and music publishing proceeds.
In April, the plaintiff requested that the three musicians be held in contempt for not properly accounting for the fees they earned from their music careers. Gorton asked the two parties to come to a mutual agreement.
Instead, they submitted two different proposals to Gorton. Porter’s proposal made distinctions between gigs in which he performs as a headliner and those he plays as a sideman. Porter told the court that he shouldn’t have to give up a percentage of the total gross from his “entity” gigs because that would not account for the expenses he accrues on the road. Instead, he asked to deposit into the escrow account his net from those shows.
But Gorton said such a proposal would result in an “accounting quagmire.” Instead, he ruled that 25 percent of all Porter’s gigs should go into escrow.
Stoltz has accepted the plaintiff’s proposal. Batiste, meanwhile, has failed to respond to repeated communications from the attorney representing the three defendants, so the proposal will apply to him as well.
Click here to read Gorton’s most recent order."
