LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit by the Allman Brothers Band, ruling that the rockers waited too long to sue Universal Music Group for the return of a decade’s worth of their recordings. The band, whose hits include “Ramblin’ Man,” claimed in their 2001 lawsuit that the recordings of live performances, demos and rehearsals made between 1969 and 1979 were for personal use and were not part of their Capricorn Records contract.
The Allman Brothers tapes were among recordings stored in a warehouse whose contents was transferred to Polygram Records during Capricorn’s 1979 bankruptcy. Through a series of mergers of record companies, the tapes eventually ended up in the hands of Universal Music, now a unit of Vivendi Universal .
The band members — Gregg Allman, Jai Johnny “Jaimoe” Johanson, Claude Hudson “Butch” Trucks, and the estate of Raymond Berry Oakley III — contended in the suit that they did not know the tapes were stored in the warehouse until 1998. The band wrote to Universal about the tapes but never received any response, the complaint said.
Superior Court Judge Judith Chirlin granted Universal’s motion to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired on the band’s claims. A Universal spokesman declined to comment. The band’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
