John Fogerty is back in the public eye. No, he didn’t write a song that sounds just like an old John Fogerty song: He’s suing his former bandmates, again. Fogerty is suing his former Creedence Clearwater Revival bandmates Stuart Cook and Doug “Cosmo” Clifford over claims that Fogerty has not been paid royalties that were due to the singer-songwriter as a result of a prior settlement.
In 1996, Fogerty alleged that Cook and Clifford, along with Patricia Fogerty, the wife of late rhythm guitarist (and John’s brother) Tom Fogerty, were misusing Creedence Clearwater Revival trademarks. (Cook and Clifford were touring as Creedence Clearwater Revisited at the time.) After a drawn-out court battle, the parties settled out of court in 2001.
Then, in December of 2014, Clifford and Cook alleged that Fogerty had breached the 2001 settlement by “publicly condemning the use of ‘Revisited’ and advertising that Fogerty on his solo tours ‘performs the albums of Creedence Clearwater Revival.’” According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the two men “were preemptively filing against Fogerty because they believed he was about to go after them for unpaid royalties—and now Fogerty has done just that.”
Fogerty’s lawsuit states that he has not been paid royalties since December of 2011. The amount of money requested in the suit remains undisclosed.