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A Los Angeles jury found in favor of Stone, who led Sly and
the Family Stone to hits like "Dance to the Music" and "Everyday
People" in the 1960s and 70s, after two days of deliberation,
attorney Nicholas Hornberger said.
Hornberger said Stone was persuaded in the late 1980s into
signing an employment and shareholder agreement with Even St.
Productions, a company run by his former manager Gerald
Goldstein and attorney Glenn Stone, and that the two stole
payments from him.
"These guys, in their minds, had concocted some reason that they
thought they were entitled to everything," Hornberger said.
Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, testified that he
had not received any royalty payments between 1989 and 2009,
according to Hornberger.
The jury assessed damages of $2.5 million against Even St.,
$2.45 million against Goldstein and $50,000 against Glenn Stone,
Hornberger said.
Defense attorney Gregory Bodell challenged the $5 million figure
however, adding that further court proceedings would clarify the
amount and ultimately overturn the verdict.
Bodell said Stone approached his clients with the promise of
creating a new album in a bid to relaunch his music career. He
said they were able to renegotiate Stone's royalty rights,
helping clear millions in taxes the artist owed to the IRS.
Bodell added that Stone received as much as $9 million from the
company, despite failing to produce an album, and that he
co-owned Even St. with Goldstein and Glenn Stone.
"We are very disappointed with the jury verdict. We believe the
evidence does not support the number they came up with. We
believe the jury got it completely wrong," Bodell said.
Stone's career was marred by decades of run-ins with the law.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, he was plagued by drug and gun
possession charges.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco)
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