From Times Staff and Wire Service Reports
Los Angeles Times

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Tom Scholz, leader of the rock group Boston, did not breach a contract with CBS Records when the group failed to deliver a record album, a federal jury has ruled.

Ending a seven-year court battle, the U.S. District Court jury also ruled Tuesday that CBS Records did not engage in a conspiracy against Scholz when it tried to stop other record companies from signing him.

CBS Records sued the entire band in 1983, charging it with failing to deliver the requisite number of albums under a 1976 contract. Charges against other band members were dismissed.

The band's first two albums, released in the 1970s, "Boston" and "Don't Look Back," went platinum.

CBS expected a third album by 1981. Despite promises by Scholz to CBS executives and rock magazines that the third album was imminent, no record was made. CBS suspended Scholz's royalties in 1983, then sued.

Lawyers for both sides said the jury apparently believed Scholz's argument that the delay in producing the third album was rooted in the creative process.

"I feel great," said Scholz, the group's founder. The jury "somehow picked up that I didn't care about the money."