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Zappa Siblings Row Settled With Pledges to Be More Amiable, Open
Posted by Contributing Editor on December 14, 2018 in Business | 453 Views | Leave a response
The late musician Frank Zappa's two younger children reached a settlement with an older sibling over the latter's alleged attacks against the petitioners and their mother in the media.
Ahmet and Diva Zappa said in their Los Angeles Superior Court papers filed in March 2017 that Dweezil Zappa was unhappy he was not named a co-trustee of the family trust instead of their younger brother and sister after their mother, Gail, died of lung cancer at age 70 in October 2015.
The settlement agreement includes a promise by Dweezil to discontinue making disparaging remarks about family members. The resolution of the dispute is subject to approval by a judge. A Feb. 6 hearing is scheduled.
In their original court papers, Ahmet, 44, and Diva, 39, wanted a judge to allow them to set up a website and "take other actions in order to respond to these scurrilous attacks to protect and preserve the value of the assets of the trust without fear or retribution …"
The younger siblings alleged that in October 2016, 49-year-old Dweezil posted on his website that he no longer was allowed to use the federal trademark "Zappa Plays Zappa" because of an order "fired off by the ZFT," referring to the Zappa Family Trust.
No such order was in effect and the trademark was obtained by the family trust in 2007 to allow any of Frank Zappa's children to play his music for the benefit of them all, the petition stated.
Under the settlement, Dweezil agrees to remove all negative comments about the ZFT on his website and merchandise. In return, he will receive all his CDs, vinyl records and posters currently under ZFT possession as well as any master tapes the trust may be holding on his behalf.
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The ZFT will not oppose or challenge any of the siblings from using their full legal name in any live music and entertainment worldwide, according to the settlement.
The co-trustees have agreed to send all ZFT beneficiaries a monthly review of pending business deals and any planned projects. In addition, both sides agreed "not so say anything negative about each other in public," according to the settlement.
Before either side can file a lawsuit, they must try to avert litigation by talking to each other and, if that is unsuccessful, attend mediation.
Before the settlement was reached, the younger Zappa siblings alleged that Dweezil had "refused to acknowledge the trust's ownership of the (trademark) and has refused to sell Frank Zappa merchandise at live engagements. He uses assets belonging to the family and owned by the trust and appropriates them to his own use and then accuses the trust of attempting to stop him from playing the music of his father."
To mock the trust and his younger siblings, and to attack the legacy of their mother, Dweezil toured under the title "Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the (epithet) He Wants: Cease and Desist Tour," the petition stated.
In November 2016, Dweezil said in an interview with Magnet magazine that his mother had "run herself and the business into the ground, spent $20 million in lawsuits and by her demise was $6 million in debt."
Dweezil also said his mother had not paid him for 10 years.
In truth, Gail Zappa put her younger children in charge of the trust assets because Ahmet was already running most of the business prior to her death and Diva had been assisting her mother in running the family business for years, according to the petition, which stated that Dweezil also was paid more than $100,000 in 2007-15.
Frank Zappa released more than 60 albums as a solo artist and with his band Mothers of Invention. He died In December 1993 at age 52 of renal failure and metastasized prostate cancer.
Zappa Siblings Row Settled With Pledges to Be More Amiable, Open was last modified: December 14th, 2018 by Contributing Editor
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Posted in Business | Tagged Amiable, more, open, pledges, settled, siblings, Zappa
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