POP/ROCK - May 27, 1988

Warner Bros. Records must pay Creed Taylor Inc. more than $3.2 million in damages for breaching an agreement about jazz guitarist George Benson, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury decided this week. The suit, filed by Creed Taylor--a recording rival--alleged that Warners earned more than $20 million in net profits from its three Benson albums that the guitarist should have made for Creed Taylor. The albums: “Breezin’,” one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time; “In Flight” and “Weekend in L.A.” Creed Taylor’s suit alleged it was forced into bankruptcy because it lost Benson, who was the top recording artist on the CTI label at the time.