Whether he thinks the outcome of the court case was a miscarriage of justice or not, the fact is that Joyce won. Morrissey then appealed and lost. It was over. It was time to pay up and move on.
Morrissey's refusal to do so is what led to Joyce causing distress for Morrissey's family when he tried to have their properties seized. That would all have been avoided had Morrissey paid up like Marr did. He was legally obliged to, and it isn't as if he couldn't afford it.
The 40/40/10/10 split was abnormal. If it had all been agreed to and was all above board, then the onus was on Morrissey and Marr to present Rourke and Joyce with contracts putting that split of the royalties in writing. Had they already been aware of this split and had verbally agreed to it, then there would clearly have been no hesitation on their part in signing these contracts.
In the absence of these contracts, a 25 per cent each split is the normal, default outcome. It is not difficult to see why Judge Weeks came to this decision. No one denies that Rourke and Joyce were fully fledged members of the band, albeit not songwriters (not that songwriting royalities were ever in dispute anyway). They were not session musicians. They played on every album and at every gig (except for one or two of the very early gigs).
I love Morrissey and agree with him on many things, but not this.
