The widow of Stevie Wonder’s lawyer from 1971 to 2011 filed a lawsuit in a Nevada federal court Thursday saying that Wonder owes her $7 million in unpaid royalties.
Susan Strack claims Wonder, whose real name is Stevland Morris, agreed to pay her husband, Johanan Vigoda, 6 percent of all his royalties on multiple occasions, The Wrap reports.
"To ensure that Morris, who has been blind since shortly after his birth, was clearly aware of the terms of each of the agreements that he entered into with Vigoda, Morris had a witness read to him the complete terms of each agreement," the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit continues to say that to certify his agreement, Wonder usually used his fingerprint and the witness that read the terms to him signed his signature below to certify that the terms of agreement were read to Wonder, The Hollywood Reporter notes.
After Vigoda’s death in 2011, his rights were left to Strack. She says Wonder did follow through with the agreement until about mid-2013, when she stopped receiving payments.
She added that Wonder told all the companies that handle his music royalties to stop sending payments as well. Strack then tried to contact the companies to get them to resume sending the payments, but she was unsuccessful.
Strack is seeking $7 million in damages for breach of written agreement, intentional interference with contract and conversion, according to The Wrap.
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