Third Eye Blind/Cadogan Lawsuit Heads To Court

OAKLAND, Calif. (Third Eye Blind Fans Website) - After two years of legal haggling, the fraud and breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Kevin Cadogan against his former band Third Eye Blind finally comes to trial Monday (July 17) in an Oakland, California Federal court.

Cadogan, the former guitarist and one of the group's founding members, is suing to recover what he claims is his portion of ownership in Third Eye Blind's music, alleging that the band withheld unpaid royalties since firing him in early 2000. Cadogan has songwriting credits on 70 percent of the multiplatinum group's songs, according to his spokesperson.

The guitarist claims that after repeated querying of band frontman Stephan Jenkins on the group's finances, he was unceremoniously fired immediately after a show in Park City, Utah on January 25, 2000.

Says Cadogan's spokesperson: "Upon returning to his hotel room that evening, Cadogan's hotel bill was slipped under the door as the band and Jenkins departed on a private jet to perform on the Tonight Show the following day with a replacement guitarist already on board."

Cadogan also alleges that during his six years in the group, Jenkins secretly established band business operations in his own name in order to distance the guitarist from greater financial gain.

Calls to Third Eye Blind's label, Elektra Entertainment, were not returned at press time. However, bassist Arion Salazar express disgust for Cadogan's continued legal moves last year. "It's a big waste of our time, man. It's a story that's just been done to death. There's a guy in a band, it's not working out, they try to work it out really hard, you know, really--'Hey, man, let's get it together.' It still doesn't work out and we have to let him go."

Third Eye Blind will release its third album, Crystal Baller, this fall.