Lawyers acting for the personal representative of Prince (whom we will call “Prince’s lawyers” for convenience) have their sights on Mr. George Ian Boxill, a mixing and recording engineer, who allegedly had five unpublished Prince recordings when Prince died in April, 2016. The recordings, Prince’s lawyers contend, belong to Prince’s estate, not to Boxill, and they demanded their immediate return, damages, and their attorneys’ fees.
From papers in the lawsuit, it seems like Prince’s lawyers have a winning case here. They already have a court order for Mr. Boxill to return “all recordings acquired through Boxill’s work with Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc., including original recordings, analog and digital copies, and any derivative works, to Plaintiffs’ counsel.”
Unfortunately for Mr. Boxill, the “return process” has not been very smooth. Now, Prince’s lawyers seek to have Mr. Boxill and his related companies held in civil contempt for their alleged failure to abide by the court’s return order.
It seems possible that Mr. Boxill and his companies might be doing their best to comply with the court’s order but there are those pesky foreseeable but unforeseen logistical hurdles (like a truck too big to pull into a particular loading dock, for example) (see here at p. 1). Also, isn’t there a conflict when Mr. Boxill and his companies are told to “return all digital copies” but are also told not to destroy any evidence?