August 28, 2000

Publication title: Canadian Press NewsWire, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Vancouver
Writer: Unknown

Former Sarah McLachlan collaborator ordered to pay pop star court costs

VANCOUVER (CP) – A music producer who unsuccessfully sued singer Sarah McLachlan for copyright infringement will have to pay the pop star more than $250,000 in court costs.

Darryl Neudorf “made serious allegations of copyright infringement against” the Grammy and Juno-awarding winning singer, her label and managers, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen said in his written ruling.
Not only did Neudorf, a former drummer with the band 54-40, fail to prove those allegations, but he also turned down a settlement offer and forced a 39-day B.C. Supreme Court trial.

“At the end of the day, based largely on the plaintiff’s own testimony, I held that the plaintiff had failed to prove” his claims, Cohen said in his ruling.

Neudorf sued McLachlan – the mastermind behind the wildly successful Lilith Fair concert tour – for cash and credit for work on four songs on her 1998 debut album Touch.

Cohen dismissed the case last December.

“I found, amongst other things, that there was an absence of evidence to prove many of the plaintiff’s allegations, and I did not think that either of the defendant McLachlan or the defendant Jowett were lying or attempting to mislead the court, as plaintiff’s counsel had so strongly suggested in his submissions,” Cohen said in a ruling released last week.

The case cost McLachlan, Nettwerk Productions Ltd. and managers Mark Jowett and Terry McBride almost $520,000, according to their lawyer Jennifer Conkie.

Neudorf was ordered to pay what will work out to more than $250,000.

“It’s a vindication for these defendants that they ought not to have been put to this trouble and to have endured all these wrongfully-brought, fraudulent claims,” Conkie said Monday.

Neither Neudorf nor his lawyer appeared at the court hearing held in May to determine costs.
Calls to Neudorf’s lawyer, Jonathan Simkin, were not returned Monday.

Neudorf earlier said he felt he had a good case and was disappointed by the outcome of the trial.
A court registrar has yet to determine the exact figure of the award, but it’s unlikely that the defendants will see any money.

Neudorf filed for bankruptcy in April. He also appealed Cohen’s decision.

“It can’t get much worse,” the musician told the Vancouver Sun following the ruling.

“It’s pretty much at rock bottom right now. So of course I have to stay optimistic or else crawl into a hole, and I don’t want to do that.”

Cohen ordered Neudorf to pay double costs because he turned down a settlement offer.

“He said ‘No thank you’ and then he went to a 39-day trial on liability only,” Conkie said.

Neudorf was also ordered to pay increased costs for the defendants – “a slap on the wrist” – for bringing the case forward, she said.

“They persisted with very serious allegations of quasi-criminal and fraudulent conduct throughout the trial in the absence of any evidence to support those allegations,” Conkie said.

“To allege fraud is a very serious thing and I said (to the judge) it was damaging or potentially damaging to the reputations of the personal defendants, particularly in a case that attracted such intense media interest.”