Jury Finds Singer Was Duped by Ex-Manager

A jury on Friday found that the late blues singer Willie Dixon was duped into signing away a third of his song rights to his ex-manager under a 1977 contract.

The Los Angeles Superior Court panel’s decision came after several days of deliberation in the trial of a lawsuit brought by the legendary artist’s widow, Marie, against her husband’s former manager, Scott Cameron. Marie Dixon sued Cameron shortly after her husband died in 1992. She claimed her late husband, who had trouble reading and writing, was tricked into signing a pact he hadn’t fully understood.

The jury’s verdicts mean Cameron no longer will receive royalties for the songs Dixon signed away, said plaintiff’s lawyer Joseph Hart. Those songs stand to bring in millions of dollars in royalties, he said.

The panel awarded Marie Dixon the rights to those songs and about $6,000, half the money Cameron that made off the tunes since the Dixons began disputing the contract.