{"id":2134,"date":"2024-08-02T19:45:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T19:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/jonathan-cain-neal-schon-in-court-again-over-money\/"},"modified":"2024-08-02T19:45:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T19:45:04","slug":"jonathan-cain-neal-schon-in-court-again-over-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/jonathan-cain-neal-schon-in-court-again-over-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Cain, Neal Schon in Court Again Over Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThe never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon erupted again this week, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon over claims that his \u201cexorbitant\u201d spending is threatening to cripple the band\u2019s touring operations.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a complaint made public in Delaware court on Tuesday (July 30), Cain claimed that Schon\u2019s alleged spending \u2014 including unilaterally chartering private jets and charging personal expenses to their shared American Express card \u2014 has led to a \u201cdeadlock\u201d that must be resolved.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe deadlock between the company\u2019s directors is now interfering with the company\u2019s ability to take even the most basic actions and is causing significant disruptions in the smooth operation of\u00a0 the company,\u201d Cain\u2019s lawyers write, adding that the problems \u201cpose a severe threat of harm to the company and to Journey\u2019s storied history of musical greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLegal battles are nothing new for Schon and Cain, the two key remaining members of an iconic rock band that\u2019s still printing money decades after its \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d heyday.<\/p>\n

\n\tBack in 2022, Schon sued Cain over allegations that his bandmate had unfairly blocked his access to the Amex account, \u201cinterfering\u201d with the band\u2019s activities and delaying payments to crew members and vendors. A few months later, Cain sued him back \u2014 claiming he had placed those restrictions on the Amex to stop Schon from \u201cmisusing\u201d the company card, including spending $400,000 in a single month.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new case, filed in Delaware\u2019s Chancery Court, largely rehashes those same disagreements over spending \u2014 like Cain claiming that Schon has \u201cspent up to $10,000 per night for hotel rooms for him and his wife\u201d during their most recent tour.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in technical terms, the new case focuses narrowly on the governance of Freedom 2020 Inc., a Delaware-based corporate entity they created to operate Journey\u2019s touring. Since Cain and Schon each control exactly 50% of the company, the lawsuit says the two have reached an impasse that has spilled into other aspects of the band\u2019s operations, like managing their staffers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPetitioner and respondent are deadlocked with regard to issues concerning the hiring and firing\u00a0of\u00a0company employees and Band crew members,\u201d Cain\u2019s lawyers write in the lawsuit. \u201cIt is common\u00a0that one director will terminate an employee or crew member, and hours or days later, the other director will rehire that same individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit claims the strife between Cain and Schon has also led to other problems, including disagreements about whether to accept an advance from AEG for their most recent tour, the purchase of cancellation insurance and other problems.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe deadlock between petitioner and respondent has created a toxic internal environment,\u201d Cain\u2019s lawyers write. \u201cRather than focusing on the band\u2019s performances during\u00a0a\u00a0major international\u00a0tour, the band\u2019s [members and crew] now find themselves caught in the middle of\u00a0the directors\u2019\u00a0disputes, afraid of performing their job\u00a0responsibilities, and pressured to align with one director or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a solution, Cain is asking the court to appoint a neutral third director of the company, who will be able to \u201cissue the tie-breaking vote\u201d during disputes over key issues.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard<\/em>, Cain\u2019s attorney Sid Liebesman<\/strong> stressed that his client was not seeking damages and only wanted to to resolve the impasse: \u201cIt is expected that the third director will provide resolution to the issues between Jon and Neal,\u201d Liebesman said. \u201cIt is Jon\u2019s intent for Journey to continue providing great live music throughout the current tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAn attorney who has represented Schon in his previous litigation with Cain did not return a request for comment on Friday (Aug. 2).<\/p>\n

\n\tEven before Schon and Cain came to blows, members of Journey had been sparring in court for years. Back in 2020, the two men teamed up to file a lawsuit against former drummer Steven Smith and former bassist Ross Valory over the band\u2019s name. And in 2022, former lead singer Steve Perry took legal action<\/a> to stop Schon and Cain from registering federal trademarks on the names of many of the band\u2019s biggest hits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon erupted again this week, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon over claims that his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2859,143,2858,1106,2860,2861],"class_list":["post-2134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-cain","tag-court","tag-jonathan","tag-money","tag-neal","tag-schon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}