Neal Schon Responds to Jonathan Cain’s Latest Lawsuit
Neal Schon has issued a lengthy response to the recent lawsuit filed against him by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain.
As previously reported, Cain filed a lawsuit on July 30 in Delaware against Schon and Freedom 2020, Inc., the operating entity that handles Journey-related business. (Freedom 2020, Inc. is based in Delaware.) In the lawsuit, Cain accused Schon and his wife, Michaele, of overusing the business’s American Express card for personal expenses, even though the card is meant to be used for Journey business expenses.
Cain’s lawsuit states that he and Schon each have their own card attached to the account. While the account, itself, has a $1 million limit, Cain and Schon’s cards have limits of $30,000. However, Cain’s lawsuit alleges Schon and his wife were able to work around their $30,000 limit to access more value on the account.
Following news of the lawsuit, Journey canceled its upcoming U.K./Ireland tour, which consisted of 11 shows. Fan who purchased tickets to those shows reportedly received an email that states, “Due to circumstances beyond the band’s control, Journey’s UK and Ireland tour is unfortunately canceled. Refunds will be made from your point of purchase.”
A reason for the sudden tour cancelation has not been disclosed, but many outlets are pointing to Schon and Cain’s lawsuit as the potential reason.
Neal Schon Responds
The Journey guitarist took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote at length about the ongoing legal issues. Schon responded to a fan’s question about whether he and his wife couldn’t stop spending the band’s money and whether Journey was marching toward a breakup. He addressed the many recent reports and wrote of his and his wife’s spending, ” …My wife and I have great relationships with different managers of hotels. They got us great deals if we want to upgrade. All have understood for many years as she travels with me every show, it comes out of my pocket in the end. This was also ‘approved’ in our private zoom meetings with Jon and [his wife] Paula. I do pay for it and always have.”
Schon continued, “This is the second time Jonathan Cain has sued me for the same thing we’ve already been through in court – that case was dropped by both of us. We both agreed to drop and move forward with prejudice. That means that you never open it again. Well, here we are again in the middle of a wonderful tour with our good friends, Def Leppard and Steve Miller. We do have very good solutions to ease the situation with Jon Cain‘s credit card, who set up in his name and instead of the band, although he receives all the rewards. The solution is get rid of the credit card, I let the promoter take on all responsibilities and pay us all individually or equal money, and we travel as we wish. Sounds like a good solution, right? Let’s see how this plays out.”
The guitarist concluded, ” … I’ll see you at our next gig. I’ll be kicking some ass. Don’t believe all you read in the media. It’s all manipulated and contrived as they wish it to be. I’m taking a higher road.”
