Wow, that's a confusing headline, isn't it? It's OK. We'll get through this together. Why Don't We were a boy band who broke up in 2022. They sampled Smashing Pumpkins that one time. For the past few years, the former members of Why Don't We have been involved in a legal battle with the group's management company Signature Entertainment. The case went to a jury, and that jury has ruled that the former members of Why Don't We have no legal rights to the band name.
Rolling Stone reports that an Orlando jury ruled against four of the five former Why Don't We members on Thursday. Ex-members Zach Herron, Corbyn Besson, Jonah Marais, and Jack Avery lost a $400,000 defamation suit against former manager David Loeffler and Signature Entertainment. But the jury also found that Signature owes the band members $400,000 for breach of fiduciary duty. The two fines cancel each other out, and the former Why Don't We members have to pay Signature a symbolic one dollar apiece. Daniel Seavey, the fifth ex-member, was removed from the case after he declared bankruptcy, and he testified as a witness. Seavey's. manager, the Signature co-founder Randy Phillips, was ordered to pay $3 million to his former business partners.
Why Don't We went on hiatus in 2022 because of the legal battle between Randy Phillips and David Loeffler, which kept them from going on a planned tour. The case went to a mistrial in 2023, and it's been going for years. Group members accused Loeffler of basically keeping them hostage in their own home, where Loeffler also lived and where alarms would go off if any door or window was opened. Daniel Seavey claimed that he co-wrote and produced much of the group's sophomore album The Good Times And The Bad Ones but that he had to share credit with people who contributed nothing.
In a group statement posted on Instagram and credited to "Formerly known as Why Don't We," all five ex-members write, "Finally, this lawsuit nightmare is over, and we're excited to put this behind us and continue our solo careers."
Randy Phillips tells Rolling Stone, "The band is going to be fine. They’re not getting back the rights to their name, but they’re going to be fine financially. I took a bullet for the guys, and I don’t regret it. Young artists should be very cautious when they sign contracts in the future."
