Royalties Suit Led By Peggy Lee Settled

A Los Angeles judge Tuesday approved a $4.75 million settlement of a class action royalties suit led by late singer Peggy Lee, despite 11th hour objections by actor Larry Hagman.

Lee had accused Decca Records, now a unit of Vivendi Universal, of underpaying royalties to her and hundreds of other artists for some four decades. About 160 artists -- many of whom are now dead -- were part of the class action, including Pearl Bailey, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bill Haley.

Tentative settlement of the two-year-long court case was reached in January, just days before Lee's death at the age of 81.

But Hagman, executor of the estate of his mother Mary Martin, best known for her roles in the Broadway musicals "South Pacific," and "The Sound of Music", objected last month saying the figure was too low and unfair to some artists.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney, however, ruled that the settlement was fair because it followed extensive mediated bargaining and because only a small percentage of class members had objected.

Lee's lawyer Cyrus Godfrey told reporters that barring further legal wrangling, the money could start being paid out in 90 days.

Godfrey added that he hoped Hagman "realizes he's interfered with this enough. I thought his objection was utterly and completely without merit."

Hagman, best known as Texas oilman J.R. Ewing in the TV series "Dallas", has 30 days to decide whether to opt out of the agreement in order to pursue an individual claim. Hagman had argued that $4.75 million was too low "to compensate what has been done to so many outstanding artists in American history."

The class action suit represented artists who recorded for Decca before a court ordered cut-off date of January 1, 1962. Musicians had claimed that Universal underreported sales figures, overcharged for services, and short-changed them by paying royalties based on incorrect prices relating to their CD sales.

Many of the artists signed contract amendments in the 1980s for CD sales as the format was beginning to catch on but contended that Universal did not properly follow the terms of those amendments.

Universal, the world's biggest record company, acquired Lee's and the other artists' contracts with Decca Records through a series of mergers.