{"id":2436,"date":"2024-08-28T23:13:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T23:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/court-appoints-neutral-to-resolve-deadlock\/"},"modified":"2024-08-28T23:13:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T23:13:50","slug":"court-appoints-neutral-to-resolve-deadlock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/court-appoints-neutral-to-resolve-deadlock\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Appoints Neutral to Resolve Deadlock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThe most recent legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon appears to be over after Schon conceded to the appointment of a neutral third party to resolve the \u201cdeadlock\u201d that Cain has claimed is crippling the band\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an order issued Wednesday (Aug. 28), a Delaware judge appointed a so-called custodian to break ties between the two longtime bandmates. The ruling came a month after Cain sued Schon seeking such an umpire, claiming their endless disputes pose \u201ca severe threat of harm\u201d to the band\u2019s \u201cstoried history of musical greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe order comes after Schon agreed to the appointment of such a neutral. In his written ruling, the judge wrote: \u201cSchon does not oppose the court\u2019s appointment of a custodian with the power to act as a third, deadlock breaking director.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, a spokesman for Cain said he was \u201celated with the outcome and looks forward to moving beyond this matter so that Journey can continue the band\u2019s 50th Anniversary Freedom Tour.\u201d An attorney for Schon did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tLegal battles are nothing new for Cain and Schon, 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. The two have repeatedly fought in court over the band\u2019s finances over the past two years.<\/p>\n

\n\tFiled by Cain last month in Delaware\u2019s Chancery Court, the new case largely rehashed those same disagreements over spending \u2014 like Cain claiming that Schon unilaterally charts private jets and lavishly spends band funds on personal expenses.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in technical terms, the case focused 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 many aspects of the band\u2019s operations.<\/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 the company,\u201d Cain\u2019s lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday\u2019s order aims to resolve that situation by naming Joseph R. Slights<\/strong>, a former Chancery Court judge, as a custodian \u2014 a court-appointed official who can cast tie-breaking votes in corporate disputes.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo carry out those duties, the judge said that Slights will be able to \u201cretain advisors or professionals, including music-industry advisors, attorneys, accountants and other professionals,\u201d in order to decide how to resolve disputes between Cain and Schon.<\/p>\n

\n\tSlights will have his work cut out for him. The complaint lodged last month painted a picture of extreme dysfunction within Journey, ranging from spending decisions to managing employees.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPetitioner and respondent are deadlocked with regard to issues concerning the hiring and firing of company employees and Band crew members,\u201d Cain\u2019s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. \u201cIt is common that 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\tIn a Facebook post last week, Schon said the accusations leveled by Cain were \u201cslanderous\u201d and that he \u201ccan\u2019t stress enough how much it upset me and how wrong they are.\u201d But he hinted that a deal was close to resolve the lawsuit by appointing a neutral third party like Slights.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re going to bring in someone impartial to help us resolve our disputes, bring clarity to what we\u2019re doing and allow us, as a band, to get back to what we should all focus on \u2014 making music and performing for our fans,\u201d Schon wrote at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most recent legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon appears to be over after Schon conceded to the appointment of a neutral third party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2881,143,3207,3206,744],"class_list":["post-2436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-appoints","tag-court","tag-deadlock","tag-neutral","tag-resolve"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436","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=2436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}