MORE LEGAL WRANGLINGS FOR TOOTS HIBBERT ESTATE ?…AFTER FIRST VICTORY, HIS FORMER MANAGER PONDERS SUING, AGAIN!

BY KEDIESHA PERRY Observer writer—

Toots Hibbert

CABEL “Jeffrey” Stephenson, former manager of Toots Hibbert, is considering legal action against the late singer’s estate following his victory in the Supreme Court on Wednesday regarding the intellectual copyright ownership of an album by singer Droop Lion.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Stephenson revealed that the matter caused severe damage to his reputation.

“The courts have given orders and instructions. I have suffered emotionally, my credibility damaged — in some quarters severely, and I lost momentum and motivation for the Droop Lion project for failing to be able to deliver on my words. Deals were shattered and so my artiste Droop Lion’s career was placed on hold due to the illegal confiscation of my hard drive containing [the] same project. There will be interesting times ahead and we are at the center of the field and looking at the ball,” he said on Friday afternoon.

The case revolved around the authorship and ownership of the musical works, and the unlawful detention of a hard drive with said works; the case also sought to establish whether the Toots Hibbert estate had an interest in the right to sound recordings in question.

The ownership of the album became a bone of contention in the wake of ska and reggae legend Hibbert’s untimely death on September 11, 2020 from complications developed after battling with COVID-19.

Cabel “Jeffrey” Stephenson (second left), manager of Toots Hibbert, and Toots Hibbert (second right), frontman for Toots and the Maytals, being congratulated by (from left) Robert Oyugi, Kerry Gordy of Motown, and David Skye of Kerry Gordy and Associates after inking a music deal with the company in Los Angeles, California, in 2019.

Hibbert had played a key role in producing and composing the Droop Lion album just before his death. His vocals do not appear on the project.

The court ordered the defendants, which included Doreen Hibbert, widow of Toots Hibbert, to deliver the hard drive to the claimant. The defendants are also required to pay the legal costs incurred by the claimant.

The issue of damages will proceed to an assessment of damages in open court.

Meanwhile, Stephenson, who was present at Wednesday’s ruling via Zoom, said he was confident that he would walk away victorious, citing that he knew he was innocent.

“I know I did nothing wrong. I bought my drive and initiated the project. Droop Lion was signed to me; Droop Lion was the artiste performing on those sound recordings. I was financing the project and coordinating all aspects of it. The courts would have looked at the evidence, analyzed the evidence, and arrived at the law for this ruling,” Stephenson said.

In the meantime, Stephenson added that he has hit the ground running and is ready to resume work on his projects.

“This victory means getting into the studio to salvage and create a masterful recording, [as well as to] try and find new investments, if possible due, to the damage they have caused — not just to me but to Droop Lion too and Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibberts’s legacy. [I’m going to] make sure that Droop Lion’s vision is realized and that the man Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, that coined the word ‘reggae’ [that was] given to us, never fades along our trod globally,” he said.