McGraw wins court ruling against Curb

McGraw may now be able to release a new disc on Big Machine, which signed him in May.

"This ruling makes it clear that Tim McGraw is a Big Machine recording artist," McGraw's attorney Bill Ramsey said. "He is no longer a Curb artist. He satisfied his obligations in good faith and delivered a lot of great albums to Curb, including 'Emotional Traffic'."

Curb issued a statement saying, "We respectfully disagree with today's ruling by the Court of Appeals on that issue, and we intend to continue to pursue this issue, including through the further appeals process as appropriate, in light of the significance of the underlying principles involved."

"The fundamental issue in this case is whether Tim McGraw fully performed under his contract with Curb Records. That issue has yet to be ruled on by any court, and will be the subject of a full trial on the merits scheduled for later this year. As to that fundamental issue, however, the Court of Appeals in its ruling yesterday reiterated the earlier sentiment expressed by the trial court that Curb Records has shown some likelihood of success on its breach of contract claims, and that Curb Records will be entitled to seek to recover compensatory damages from Mr. McGraw at the upcoming trial," the statement said.

"The only legal effect of the ruling by the Court of Appeals yesterday was to affirm the trial court's earlier decision that one of the remedies requested by Curb Records against Mr. McGraw, injunctive relief (i.e., a ruling by the court preventing Mr. McGraw from recording elsewhere until he had fully performed under his recording agreement with Curb Records), was not appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of this case."

Curb can apply for permission to appeal the ruling to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

"We are in agreement with what Bill Ramsey says," Big Machine President/CEO Scott Borchetta said in a statement to Country Aircheck. "I signed Tim in good faith believing he was free to sign with us. We've been working toward a first quarter album release all along and have not been slowed by any of the legal issues."