McLachlan song suit adjourned for a month

VANCOUVER (CP) -- Lawyers for both sides in the Sarah McLachlan civil trial will make their closing arguments at the end of March in B.C. Supreme Court.

"That will be the most fun of all for the lawyers," said Jennifer Conkie, who is representing the singer and Vancouver's Nettwerk Productions Ltd.

"That's because we get to review the vast body of what everybody has said and analyse it," she said Wednesday. "And apply the law and legal principles to all that evidence."

Jonathan Simkin, lawyer for Darryl Neudorf, who is suing McLachlan and Nettwerk, will make his oral argument March 29. Conkie will follow the next day, then Simkin's rebuttal is scheduled March 31.

The trial, which began Nov. 2, was originally scheduled for three weeks but was in its eighth week when the last witness concluded his testimony Wednesday.

Neudorf, 34, a Vancouver producer and former drummer with the band 54-40 and Moev, is suing Nettwerk Productions Ltd. for song-writing credit on four songs off McLachlan's debut album Touch.

He is also suing for copyright infringement and a share of royalties and co-production credit on the 1988 album, which sold more than 625,000 copies.

The defendants named in the lawsuit -- Nettwerk Productions Ltd., Nettoverboard Publishing, McLachlan, Mark Jowett, Terry McBride and Ric Arboit -- deny the allegations.

Neudorf called 11 witnesses while the defence called seven, including McLachlan and Nettwerk owners Mark Jowett and Terry McBride.

Justice Bruce Cohen, who heard the case without a jury, ordered that he receive written submissions from both sides before hearing the oral arguments.

"It'll take months and months and months to make his decision," Simkin said. "It will probably take as long as six months.

"Because it's complicated. It'll probably be a 100-page judgment."