Access Denied
The two bandmates are battling in court after Schon accused Cain of blocking access to the group’s Amex card
Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain and guitarist Neal Schon are battling it out in public over a lawsuit filed by Schon against Cain. In a lawsuit filed last month in California, Schon accused Cain of refusing to give him access to the group’s American Express card and its records, Billboard reported.
Despite continuing to tour together, according to Billboard, Schon wrote on his social media Monday: “The only comment I’ll make at this time is it’s all very unfortunate and (I) tried for over a year to attain all our corporate records for Nomota with many personal e-mails to Jon as well as many legal letter(s) stating it’s my legal right to see all but I was left with no choice but to take it legal. … There’s much more … since I filed I’ll be following my attorneys advice and not speak until we are in court where I’ll not have a problem at all. It is what it is.” Nomota, the company owned by both Schon and Cain, was founded in 1998, and established a 50/50 ownership between the two remaining members.
Cain released a statement Tuesday in response to the lawsuit filed by Schon on Oct. 31, as well as to the guitarist’s public statements on Monday.
“This is a matter that should have been resolved privately,” Cain said Tuesday, according to Variety, “but I am forced to publicly respond now to Neal’s malicious lies and personal attacks on my family and (me) in an effort to garner public support for his ill-conceived lawsuit — a lawsuit that has absolutely no merit.”
Cain added, “Neal has always had access to the credit card statements; what he lacks — and what he is really seeking — is the ability to increase his spending limits. Since Neal decided to publicize what is going on, I can tell you we will present the evidence to the court that shows that Neal has been under tremendous financial pressure as a result of his excessive spending and extravagant lifestyle, which led to him running up enormous personal charges on the band’s credit card account.
The lawsuit follows a previous lawsuit in September by former lead singer Steve Perry. Perry took legal action against both Schon and Cain to stop them from registering federal trademarks on the names of many of the band’s biggest hits, including “Anyway You Want It” and “Wheel In The Sky” (which Perry provided the golden vocals for). Perry, who left Journey in 1998, claimed the trio had an agreement that required unanimous consent for any business decision related to the trademarks and that he had not authorized said consent. The case is currently pending.