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Skip Spence's classic psychedelic/folk album Oar has been rerelease on
Sundazed Records with 5 previous unheard tracks (22 in all), new liner notes by
David Fricke (Rolling Stone) and Jud Cost, and several previously unpublished
photos of Skip. Plus, the Skip Spence Tribute, More Oar, is now available
on Birdman Records. The CD features the musical talents of: Robert Plant, Beck,
Robyn Hitchcock, Mudhoney, Diesel Park West, Tom Waits, Peter Buck of R.E.M.,
Jay Farrar of Son Volt, and many others. Reprise Records VP Bill Bentley
organized the tribute project.
Both CDs can be ordered here.
The New York Times published this
article about Skip, Oar and More Oar on July 4th.
(You'll need to
register at the Times site to view it, but it's free and quick.)
Moby Grape returned to The Wetlands in New York, November 19th & 20th 1998
Be sure to check Jerry's Page for information about his new CD.
Note: This section presents links to some court documents that are in pdf
format.
If you don't have Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view these files,
you can download
it for free. These legal updates are presented in reverse chronological
order. All documents are copied from court records, open to the public. Several
of these documents are scans of photocopies which may contain OCR errors, for
which we apologise.
(A few of the pdf file links are not working. We will be replacing them with
plain text versions as soon as possible.
Please be patient as we work to
rectify the situation. While you're reading the material here, please enjoy this
little musical tribute to Matthew
Katz [326 KB wav file].)
[December 9, 1999]
Is Matthew Katz a victim of harassment?
Our court reporter has dug up further interesting documents
from the court records. The first one is a letter to Katz in
April of this year from the band's attorney, informing Katz that the Spence
family would not welcome him at Skip's memorial service. Katz stated that he
would "attend...whether the family liked it or not." Katz included a copy of
this letter as evidence in his defamation suit against the band.
The second document, which Katz put into the public record by including it as
as evidence, refers to comments posted to a Matthew Katz Legacy web
site. Why Katz himself made these comments public again in his defamation
suit (since the web page had already been taken down and Katz acknowledges that
the band was not involved with running the web site) is a mystery.
[November 3, 1999]
Bad news for Matthew Katz!
Our roving reporter discovered this recent Federal Court ruling regarding web libel suits. Katz is claiming that the band has libeled him through their web site. This ruling will impact such claims. (Reprinted from the San Francisco Daily Journal ©)
[October 13, 1999]
Nothing eventful occurred at yesterday's pre-trial hearing,
the trial is
still scheduled to start February 7, 2000.
[September 29, 1999]
Pre-trial hearings continue on October 12th in San Francisco County Superior Court.
[September 23, 1999]
Read about the Krazy World of Matthew Katz - Legal Eagle
[September 22, 1999]
According to the San Francisco Recorder, Case 614321 (Lewis v Katz) is on the calendar for today in the Discovery Department, Dept. 612 (Commissioner Hewlitt) at 10:30 am. Apparently this is in response to a motion to compel Katz to answer the pre-trial discovery "interrogatory" questions. Commissioner Hewlitt fined Katz $483 last May for not answering the questions. The case is listed second on the docket and the discovery process will continue on October 12th. The hearing is open to the public. Seating is limited, but there are generally several seats available.
[September 13, 1999]
Lawers for both sides were in court Friday, and since Matthew Katz has yet to answer the interrogatory (pre-trial discovery) questions to the satisfaction of the band's attorney, the trail date has once again been postponed until February 7, 2000. The judge stated "Please, please, please make this the last time for any delays."
According to a courtroom observer the attorneys argued vigorously about whether or not Katz was able to answer the questions. The judge read a cursory history of the case, beginning with the first action in 1970. The entire audience, consisting of about 20 attorneys involved with other cases scheduled on the day's docket were all "shaking their heads in disbelief."
[September 7, 1999]
Matthew Katz claims on his web site that "We have never prohibited Moby Grape from playing the music the fans want to hear." We are pleased to provide evidence to the contrary with documents from Katz copied from court documents open to the public.
Our first piece of evidence shows the cover sheet from a suit Katz filed in Santa Monica court (1989) attempting to obtain a restraining order to prevent Moby Grape from performing on stage. Katz is suing, in addition to the individual band members: Michelob, Michelob Concert Series, Universal Amphitheatre, Universal Amphitheatre Box Office (!), Ticket Master, MCA, Music Plus, and numerous other defendants.
In our second piece of evidence, from 1990, Katz writes a letter attempt to prevent Moby Grape from playing at The Coconut Teaszer in Hollywood - threatening the club with legal action. In our third piece of evidence, Katz demands that Moby Grape "cease and desist" from performing under their own name at both the Maritime Theater in San Francisco and at Hollywood's House of Blues in 1996 in a letter to the band's attorney.
A lot of people believe that these documents are proof that Matthew Katz's statement is a lie - what is your opinion?
If Matthew Katz doesn't watch himself, he may be declared a vexatious litigant by the courts and be legally barred from filing any more of his meritless motions, pleadings, and frivolous lawsuits, just as Fred C. Guenther was barred in 1993. Katz claims to care about his reputation, but it doesn't seem that he does with the way he attempts to abuse the legal system.
[May 24, 1999]
Matthew Katz was fined $483 by Commissioner Hewlett today for abusing the Discovery Department by failing to answer the interrogotories to the satisfaction of the plaintiffs (Moby Grape members) and the court. Apparently Katz answered nearly every question with "objection." Katz has 15 days to answer the questions and 30 days to pay the fine.
[May 7, 1999]
We've received some more interesting court documents involving Katz. In this case Katz, in an effort to avoid paying the attorney who handled the case against Moby Grape that he lost in 1995, sued him for malpractice! Here is the defendant's response and cross complaint to Katz's claims. Of course, Katz lost this lawsuit (in a summary judgement), but I that hope Katz's current attorney, Mr. Washburn, knows what he's gotten himself in to. :-)
Around the same time (1996), Katz sued the court's Receiver, Sam Mendelson, (who was appointed by the court in a 1973 case). But apparently Mendelson had nothing to do with the case Katz was suing over! Here is Mendelson's response to Katz's absurd complaint. You know the old saying - he who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client!
[May 3, 1999]
The trial scheduled for today has been postponed until October 4, 1999, because Katz failed to answer the pre-trial questions posed to him by band members - yet another delay tactic from Katz. In a civil case, each participant may ask thirty-five written "Special Interrogatory" questions, to be answered by the opposition before the trial. A motion with the court to compel Katz to answer the interrogatory questions was filed on May 5th.
Also, there will be a mandatory settlement conference held on September 17th. The case, which is a consolidation of numerous cases filed over several years, goes by case number 614321 (Lewis v Katz), which is the earliest of the cases.
[April 22, 1999]
Here is the complaint we filed in California Superior Court against Matthew Katz in December 1998 for: breach of contract, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, fiduciary abuse of dependent adults, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It was assigned case #300175. (This is a plain text file scanned from a copy of the public record, and may contain some OCR errors.)
[April 19, 1999]
Trail dates are set: May 3, 1999, Department 206 (room 206) of San Francisco Superior Court (400 McCallister St., San Francisco), Judge Alfred A. Chiantelli presiding.
Case numbers 300175, 957731 and 996381 will be heard. These are listed as "jury trials." Also listed for May 3rd under "court trials" is case # 614321, Lewis v Katz.
[April 2, 1999]
In court today, Matthew Katz's attorney moved to have the case heard by the American Arbitration Association - yet another stall tactic. Judge Garcia denied the motion. Katz has finally found a attorney that will take on his defense; hopefully Mr. Washburn is intelligent enough to collect his fee from Katz in advance.
[March 31, 1999]
A hearing in case #300175 is scheduled for Friday, April 2, 1999.
[February 28, 1999]
On January 28th, all court cases between the band and Matthew Katz were consolidated into a single case, #300175. This unified case will be heard soon in California Superior Court. We'll post the trial date (which will probably be some time in May or June) as soon as it is announced. The trial will naturally be open to the public, and will be heard by either Judge David A Garcia (Dept 301) or Judge Ronald Quidachay (Dept 302). Trial date notices are published in the San Francisco Recorder.
[Background Information]
In 1973, David Rubinson and Matthew Katz filed a bogus "Stipulated Settlement" (excerpts) in California court which stated that the band had agreed to turn over valuable rights to Katz in exchange for Katz dropping his claims to disputed monies being withheld by CBS records. David Rubinson then collected these monies from CBS. Unfortunately, the band knew nothing of this bogus "settlement," nor did they ever sign the agreement.
In 1995, the band sued Katz, Rubinson and Rubinson's former attorney Nicholas Clainos - who were all involved with the bogus Stipulated Settlement - in California Superior Court, to have the settlement set aside.
In November of that year, the court voided the fraudulent 1973 settlement, giving the band back the rights to their music and their name. Katz appealed the decision, and in 1997 lost his appeal. In the 1995 case, the court found that, because of the length of time it took the band to bring the lawsuit, that they no longer had claims against Rubinson and Clainos. In an appeal by the band, this decision was overturned with regard to Spence and Mosley, due to their mental condition at the time of the 1973 settlement.
Katz is still making claims to Moby Grape money, many of which may come back to haunt him at the May trial.
Support HR 1125, a bill currently before Congress to increase the penalties for infringing the rights pertaining to famous performing groups.