Judgment Paid in Hendrix Litigation

Experience Hendrix Awarded Near $900,000

Seattle, WA: Experience Hendrix, L.L.C., the Hendrix family music company which owns the Jimi Hendrix music rights, has obtained a stipulated court order near $900,000 against music entrepreneur Ed Chalpin.

The payment derived from a 2006 lawsuit against Mr. Chalpin and two of his companies. During the litigation, Mr. Chalpin was described as "a singularly uncredible witness" by Federal District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan and held in contempt of court.

The current judgment dates back to previous lawsuits. In 2001, Experience Hendrix filed a lawsuit in the UK High Court against Mr. Chalpin and his PPX Enterprises. The lawsuit was filed to enforce a 1973 consent decree which limited Mr. Chalpin's rights in Hendrix recordings from 1965 when Jimi Hendrix was an unknown guitarist for Curtis Knight & The Squires.

In 2003, the UK High Court ruled in favor of Experience Hendrix ordering Mr. Chalpin and PPX Enterprises to make royalty payments to Experience Hendrix. Mr. Chalpin did not honor the £304,173 payment due Experience Hendrix. A New York State Court later upheld the UK court's decision ordering Mr. Chalpin to pay Experience Hendrix $725,868 (the UK judgment in USD).

Mr. Chalpin made no payment to Experience Hendrix. Then, in 2006, Mr. Chalpin attempted to sell the 33 Hendrix masters recorded in 1965 through an auction by Ocean Tomo, another PPX company.

Experience Hendrix again sued Mr. Chaplin, this time for fraudulent conveyance. Judge Kaplan directed Mr. Chalpin not to dispose of the assets. In a Billboard press release, Judge Kaplan said, "Mr. Chalpin was engaged in a game of three card Monte with his creditors. He was moving the pea from one walnut shell to another."