Cases

Barrett v Universal-Island Records & Others

Held

(1) Ds3-13 could enforce the settlement agreement: Deepak v ICI did not apply to compromises of litigation. The agreement precluded the claims brought by AB personally, but not those brought by AB as administrator of CB’s estate. AB’s claims were an abuse of process, and were also precluded by estoppel, acquiescence or laches. No claims were precluded by cause of action estoppel. (2) AB and CB were not parties to the recording agreements. BM entered into them alone. Ds were not trustees of a promise to AB and CB. In any event, Ds had discharged their liability by their payments to BM and his assignees. (3) As Ds had made the payments due under the contracts (albeit to BM who paid AB and CB), they had not been enriched. (4) BM had written 4 of the songs alone and AB and CB were not authors of any of the 7 songs. (5) The performances were all issued to the public pursuant to agreements prior to 1992 and so Ds had a defence.

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