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Wednesday, July 13, 2011 Last Update: 9:50 AM PT George Clinton Sues His Lawy ers
By JUNE WILLIAMS Like ShareThis

SEATTLE (CN) - Parliam ent-Funkadelic front-m an George Clinton say s his lawy ers failed to pursue a copy right infringem ent claim against a record com pany , botched another case against Univ ersal Music Group, from which it w ithdrew the day before trial, but charged him m ore than $3 .5 m illion in legal fees. Clinton dem ands $1 0 m illion, plus punitiv e dam ages, from Hendricks & Lewis and Oscar Yale Lewis Jr., in a m alpractice claim in Federal Court. Clinton say s he hired Hendricks & Lewis to file a RICO com plaint to recov er his ownership rights to certain Funkadelic m aster recordings. He say s he chose the firm because of its experience representing sim ilar claim s by the Jim i Hendrix estate. But according to the com plaint: "Attorney Lewis nev er intended to file a civ il RICO action on behalf of Mr. Clinton." Clinton adds: "Defendant attorney Lew is conv inced Mr. Clinton to pursue other lawsuits to generate the funds necessary to m aintain a civ il RICO action, y et defendants charged, billed, and inv oiced Mr. Clinton in excess of $3 .5 m illion dollars in legal fees, the am ount of which could hav e easily cov ered the cost of pursuing the contem plated civ il RICO action for Mr. Clinton." Instead of filing a RICO com plaint, Clinton say s, the attorney s filed a breach of contract claim against UMG for unpaid roy alties. "The defendants did not rev iew the UMG contracts w hich form ed the bases for the action nor did they rev iew the com plaint with Mr. Clinton prior to its filing on January 2 9 , 2 007 . Instead, the defendants relied on Clinton's estranged wife, Stephanie Clinton, for inform ation and purported authorization to file the com plaint," the com plaint states. Lewis's own docum ent expert had concluded that the contract in question had been altered and could not be v alidated, according to the com plaint. The firm also erred by failing to nam e Clinton's production com pany , Thang, Inc. and by failing to toll the statute of lim itations for breach of contract, according to the com plaint. "After Mr. Clinton's April 2 4 , 2 008 deposition, UMG filed a m otion for sum m ary judgm ent seeking dism issal of Mr. Clinton's claim s based on the follow ing argum ents: 1 ) Mr. Clinton's claim s w ere barred by the statute of lim itations because the 2 005 letter tolling agreem ent negotiated by the defendants did not toll the necessary statute of lim itations; 2 ) Mr. Clinton lacked standing to bring the claim s indiv idually and Thang, Inc. w as the real party in interest as signatory to the operativ e agreem ents; and 3 ) Mr. Clinton had repudiated the October 1 7 , 1 980 Settlem ent Agreem ent which form ed the basis of his com plaint against UMG based on his deposition testim ony that he had not signed the docum ent," the com plaint states. "UMG also filed a Rule 1 1 Motion against attorney Lew is for filing a com plaint attaching the October, 1 980 Settlem ent Agreem ent as a docum ent executed by Mr. Clinton, when he knew that Mr. Clinton w ould truthfully deny signing it," the com plaint adds. With only one claim left for trial, Lew is attem pted to w ithdraw as counsel, but Clinton objected. The day before trial, "Lewis filed a surprise em ergency m otion to withdraw, prejudicing Mr. Clinton's case," according to the com plaint. Clinton also claim s that Lew is failed to pursue a copy right infringem ent claim against Charley Records. "Despite Charly Records' acknowledgem ent of its ongoing unauthorized sale of certain Funkadelic m aster recordings and its July 7 , 2 007 opening offer to negotiate to acquire the rights those m asters (which included pay ing Mr. Clinton a $2 00,000 adv ance), and further despite the defendants billing Mr. Clinton $3 0,000 in legal fees to address this issue w ith Charly Records, the defendants took no further action to adv ance a licensing arrangem ent w ith Charly Records or to enforce Mr. Clinton's legal rights against Charly Records," the com plaint states. Clinton say s he's already paid $1 m illion in legal fees, but Hendricks & Lew is hav e tried to garnish his roy alties and personal and com pany bank accounts and hav e filed liens in two pending federal litigation actions, including the UMG com plaint. Clinton wants m ore than $1 0 m illion in dam ages for legal m alpractice and fraudulent inducem ent and punitiv e dam ages He is represented by Katherine

fraudulent inducem ent, and punitiv e dam ages. He is represented by Katherine Felton w ith Ly beck Murphy , of Mercer Island, Wash.
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