Los Angeles — A settlement worth a reported $8.4 million has been reached between a group of aging musicians and an arm of their union that allegedly failed to provide them benefits after their careers had ended.
The settlement announced Wednesday will help musicians such as Sam Moore and the estates of Motown diva Mary Wells, Jackie Wilson and Curtis Mayfield recoup some of the money they claim they lost when record companies failed to accurately report royalty earnings and did not make required contributions to a pension fund.
"This truly is a victory for the recording artists," said Joyce Moore, whose 67-year-old husband tours every year just to pay his medical bills. "This is a great day for those of us who have been fighting this battle for the past nine years."
The lawsuit filed in 1993 accused the pension arm of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the union representing singers and musicians, of failing to protect artists who had faded from the music industry but had reaped millions of dollars for record companies.
The lawsuit also alleged that AFTRA fund trustees did not monitor record-label contributions to artists' accounts and failed to sue violators.
More than a dozen artists joined the lawsuit over the last nine years, including the estate of Wells, who died in 1992.
Under terms of the settlement, the 15 named plaintiffs will receive $25,000 and will be able to file claims and challenge benefit determinations in court.
The settlement also forced the AFTRA fund to streamline its claims process and establish a fund to cover the cost of successful benefit claims in the future.
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