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ARTICLE · 22 FEBRUARY 2018

The Lynyrd Skynyrd Texting Case: Spoliation And Non-Party Texts

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It was a tragedy. The 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and Steven Gaines almost ended the band Lynyrd Skynyrd forever. In the wake of the crash, the survivors swore an oath never again to perform as "Lynyrd Skynyrd."

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Owen Masters
Owen Masters
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It was a tragedy. The 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and Steven Gaines almost ended the band Lynyrd Skynyrd forever. In the wake of the crash, the survivors swore an oath never again to perform as "Lynyrd Skynyrd." That oath made its way to court where it would be memorialized in a 1988 Consent Order outlining how and when surviving members could use the name "Lynyrd Skynyrd."  In 2016, Cleopatra Records and its affiliate film studio Cleopatra Films (together "Cleopatra") hired a writer, Jared Cohn, to write and direct a screenplay about the plane crash. The studio secured the cooperation of one of the band's few surviving members, Artimus Pyle. Other heirs to the Lynyrd Skynyrd name, including members of the Van Zant family and original band member Gary Rossington, did not approve and threatened Cleopatra with legal action based on Mr. Pyle's involvement. Cleopatra and the Van Zants traded barbs, while Cleopatra distanced itself from Pyle to try and get

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