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Ungrateful Dead -- Garcia Sued by Dead Pal

Posted Dec 30th 2008 12:53PM by TMZ Staff

It's always a shame when two lifelong friends fight over money. It's even worse when they're dead.

The estate of keyboardist Merl Saunders is suing the estate of Jerry Garcia over a CD of a live performance of theirs that was released in 2004. According to a federal lawsuit filed yesterday, Saunders' estate claims it has equal rights to the music, but didn't find out about the CD until after it was released.

Saunders' estate wants in excess of $100,000. Neither Saunders nor Garcia could be reached for comment because they're both dead.

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1. this is ridiculous!!!!! what next?????

Posted at 1:01PM on Dec 30th 2008 by hh

2. Oh that's just plain funny.

Posted at 1:10PM on Dec 30th 2008 by Leela

3. At what point do you have enough money? These families probably have so much that $100,000 is nothing. Certainly not enough to make themselves look bad and bum everyone else out.

Posted at 1:10PM on Dec 30th 2008 by rainbow68

4. WTF???

Posted at 1:11PM on Dec 30th 2008 by Wand Waxer

5. well, they r entitled, why not?...but ur last comment is pretty sad tmz

Posted at 1:13PM on Dec 30th 2008 by WOW

6. You Just Can't Make This S**T UP!

Posted at 1:12PM on Dec 30th 2008 by Unbelievable

7. I can assure you, the Merl Saunders family is not swimming in dough. If they're entitled, they're entitled. Courts will decide. And if Jerry made $$ off this release (Well-Matched, a great CD: concordmusicgroup.com), he'd want Merl (or his esate) to share in the benefits.

Posted at 1:41PM on Dec 30th 2008 by lostinlalaland

8. The vultures sure come out to pick the bones once the body is done living.

Posted at 3:26PM on Dec 30th 2008 by imcndbl

9. Jerry's estate is also in legal limbo. He had many wives, girlfriends and children; all of whom are upset that Debrorah Koons Garcia (married jerry less than a year before he died). Deb scooped up the estate and released many live albums that legally were NOT hers. She start PURE JERRY to release the CD's and did not share with the musicans or the rest of the family. Lawyers shut down her company and forced her to stop selling the CD's. The are currently waiting to go to court to resolve the estate (AGAIN).

This is not Jerry's real family being sued by Merl's. It is Merl's family suing a gold digger that was barely in Jerry's life since she tried to steal him from Mt Girl and the family back in the 70"s.

Jerry sharred all recordings with the participating musicians. It is same for the fans that Jerry's estate can't be resolved.

It is ugly.

Posted at 4:47PM on Dec 30th 2008 by liam7022

10. This is discusting. It just shows how greedy people are. Okay, if the estate wins the $100,000; who get the money? The dead guy. Just let the men RIP. (that's Rest In Peace) for those idiots)

Posted at 5:32PM on Dec 30th 2008 by Linda

11. hey its just business. if merl is owed something, like giving all his archives to rhino or whatever, he's entitled. i hardly think merl was very well off and am sure his family has substantial medical bills to deal with.

Posted at 11:35PM on Dec 30th 2008 by turtle

12. Debra has big money, Merl had none. He lived in a small apartment. Merl's estate is entitled to Merl's stuff. What really burns me up is all the GARCIA BAND tapes which are rapidly deteriorating. Even a judge ORDERED those tapes to be digitalized before they disintrigate completely, but THEY STILL HAVE NOT BEEN TRANSFERED. It seems that even though Garcia was a leader in sharing his music for free, Debra wants to SELL his music against his wishes. Now, due to all the lawsuits, I would not be suprised if they couldn't find an engineer to do the transfers. Who would want to get in the middle of rich suing rich? The tragedy is that all Garcia's non-dead music may be lost forever over MONEY and a spouse not doing the right thing.

Posted at 2:42PM on Dec 31st 2008 by John