A Los Angeles jury awarded Sly Stone $5 million this week in a royalty dispute that precipitated the 2013 bankruptcy filing of businesses owned by the funk legend’s estranged manager.
Mr. Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, filed a breach of contract suit in 2010 against record producer Jerry Goldstein, attorney Glenn Stone, Even Street Productions Ltd. and others, claiming they withheld royalties due to him. Sly Stone teamed up with the defendants in the late 1980s either to reinvigorate his career or to help him recoup royalties from his earlier work, depending on which side is telling the story.
A 16-day trial in Los Angeles Superior Court concluded Friday, and a jury on Tuesday a jury said Even Street underpaid Sly Stone $2.5 million in profits due under his employment agreement. The jury also found Mr. Goldstein liable for $2.45 million in damages and found Glenn Stone liable for $50,000.
Gregory Bodell, an attorney for Mr. Goldstein and Glenn Stone, said he believes the jury made a mistake “because their award bears no relationship to the testimony of the damages by either of the experts” and plans to ask a judge to review the award. The judge overseeing the case still has to determine what to do with roughly $3.5 million in royalties that have been held by the court since the suit was filed in 2010.
Sly Stone’s attorney, Robert Allan, said Wednesday that Sly Stone was very grateful for the decision and told him “the everyday people in the jury saw that I didn’t get my money.” Mr. Stone was in Oakland, Calif. this past weekend for a convention held in honor of the famed Sly and The Family Stone.
In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Sly and The Family Stone fused strands of funk, soul, rock and psychedelia to create a string of pop-music masterpieces including “(I Want to Take You) Higher,” “Everyday People” and “Dance to the Music.” Those classics made Mr. Stone one of the biggest stars of his era, but by the end of the decade, his career had already been derailed by drugs.
Mr. Goldstein, a former songwriter credited with co-writing “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “Hang on Sloopy,” put his companies Even Street Productions Ltd. and Majoken Inc. into Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles in May 2013.
The bankruptcy court allowed the Los Angeles royalties case to go to trial, even though bankruptcy typically halts active litigation.
Mr. Allan said 71-year old Mr. Stone—who’s had stints of homelessness interspersed with several lackluster comeback attempts—continues to write songs. “He’s a man with music in his head 24 hours a day.”
-Patrick Fitzgerald contributed to this article.
Write to Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @sara_randazzo
