According to Corren.se, GHOST frontman and founder Tobias Forge has failed to reach an agreement with former members of the band who sued him earlier this year. The four musicians accused him of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the group’s album releases and world tours. (Via Blabbermouth)
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On Monday (November 13), a so-called oral preparation was held in a court in Linköping, Sweden. Forge was not present for the proceedings but was represented by his legal counsel, Ann-Charlotte Söderlund Björk. Two of the four musicians suing Forge, Simon Söderberg (Alpha; member of GHOST from 2010 until 2016) and Mauro Rubino (Air; member of GHOST from 2011 until 2016), attended the hearing, where their attorney, Michael Berg, at one point lost his patience when Björk demanded answers to her questions.
“It would be good to know how big this case will be, so that we’re not still sitting here three months from now,” Berg said.
The presiding judge finally asked the parties if they had any interest in finding a solution — a desire to reach a settlement in order to avoid a time-consuming and expensive main negotiation.
After both parties expressed interest in negotiating a settlement, they were led away by the court chairman and continued their talks behind closed doors. However, after a few hours, it was clear that the parties could not come to an agreement. Just after 3:00 p.m., the hearing had concluded.
Although neither party commented on Monday’s events, it is believed that more attempts at a out-of-court settlement will occur. Any main negotiation will be held in early 2018.
The original lawsuit, which was filed in the district court of Linköping, where GHOST was originally based, claimed that Forge solely controlled the band’s business affairs without input from anyone else in the group. The four musicians furthermore stated that a partnership agreement existed between them and Forge which put Tobias in charge of carrying out the company’s management duties.