Former Suicidal Tendencies bassist Louis Mayorga has filed a lawsuit against his former label boss Lisa Fancher, claiming that he’s owed royalties from the iconic 1983 punk song “Institutionalized.”
“Fancher, through her label Frontier, has sold the Album [that “Institutionalized” appears on] continuously since 1983,” the lawsuit reads. “However, some years ago, Fancher ceased to operate her record label in any semblance of compliance with standard music industry practices, at least with regard to accounting and paying artists.”
According to the suit, Fancher “has ceased to provide any royalty statements to Mayorga,” and the musician “has not received a royalty statement from Fancher in many years, if ever.”
“At various times in the past four years, Mayorga has asked Fancher to pay him royalties for the sales of the Album. However, Fancher usually responds with a series of excuses about how she ‘does not have the money,’ or words to that effect, and eventually, after Mayorga makes repeated requests, Fancher sends Mayorga a check for an arbitrary amount,” the suit reads.
“But regardless of the random amounts that Fancher has paid Mayorga from time to time, Mayorga has no information at all about record sales, digital income, licensing, foreign sales, or use of the recordings in film productions, video games, and the like,” the complaint, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, continues.
Frontier Records had no comment for TheWrap on the lawsuit.
Alleging breach of contract, Mayorga is seeking unspecified damages, though the suit says that the amount in question is “in no event less than $25,000.”
Maybe the jury can throw in a Pepsi on top of it if he wins.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.