The never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon flared up again this week, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon alleging that his “excessive” spending threatens to cripple the band's tours.
In a complaint made public in a Delaware court on Tuesday (July 30), Cain alleged that Schon's alleged spending — including unilaterally chartering private jets and charging personal expenses to their joint American Express card — led to an “impasse” that needs to be resolved.
“The impasse among the company's directors now interferes with the company's ability to take even the most basic actions and causes significant disruptions to the company's smooth operations,” Cain's lawyers wrote, adding that the problems “pose a serious threat of harm to the company and in the storied history of Journey's musical greatness.”
Legal battles are nothing new for Schon and Cain, the two main remaining members of an iconic rock band still printing money decades after their “Don't Stop Believin'” heyday.
In 2022, Schon sued Cain over claims that his partner had wrongfully blocked his access to the Amex account, “interfering” with the band's operations and delaying payments to crew members and vendors. A few months later, Cain sued him back — claiming he had placed those restrictions on Amex to prevent Schon from “abusing” the corporate card, including spending $400,000 in a single month.
The new case, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, largely rehash those same spending disputes — such as Cain alleging that Schon “spent up to $10,000 per night on hotel rooms for him and his wife ” during their most recent tour.
But on the technical side, the new case focuses narrowly on the governance of Freedom 2020 Inc., a Delaware-based corporate entity they created to run the Journey tour. Since Cain and Schon each control exactly 50% of the company, the lawsuit says the two have reached an impasse that has spilled over into other aspects of the group's operations, such as managing their personnel.
“The petitioner and the respondent are at an impasse over matters involving the hiring and firing of company employees and complex crew members,” Cain's attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. “It's common for one manager to fire an employee or crew member, and hours or days later, the other manager will rehire the same person.”
The lawsuit alleges that the feud between Cain and Schon also led to other problems, including disagreements over whether to receive an advance from AEG for their most recent tour, purchasing cancellation insurance and other problems.
“The impasse between petitioner and respondent has created a toxic internal environment,” Cain's attorneys wrote. “Instead of focusing on the band's performances during a major international tour, the band [members and crew] now they find themselves caught in the middle of manager disputes, afraid to fulfill their job responsibilities and pressured to align with one manager or the other.”
As a solution, Cain is asking the court to appoint a neutral third-party director of the company, who will be able to “issue the tie” during disputes over key issues.
In a statement to Advertising signCain's lawyer Sid Liebesman emphasized that his client was not seeking damages and only wanted to resolve the impasse: “It is expected that the third director will resolve the issues between Jon and Neal,” Liebesman said. “It is Jon's intention for Journey to continue to deliver great live music throughout the current tour.”
An attorney who has represented Schon in his previous dispute with Cain did not return a request for comment Friday (Aug. 2).
Even before Schon and Cain clashed, Journey members had been battling it out in court for years. In 2020, the two men teamed up to file a lawsuit against former drummer Steven Smith and former bassist Ross Valory over the band's name. And in 2022, former singer Steve Perry took legal action to prevent Schon and Cain from filing federal trademarks in the names of many of the band's biggest hits.
