"At no point in the planning or lead up to that moment was anyone in the Gale family consulted, or even invited,” read the statement posted on Dec. 2. “We were not asked our thoughts or feelings about it taking place. If we were, we would have liked to discuss who would fill in on vocals, since Riley had laid out very specific requests for this exact scenario.”
Turns out, the Riley Gale Memorial Foundation, which was created by the singer's family after his death in 2021, had been in the crossfire of a years-long legal battle between Gale’s parents and the remaining members of Power Trip that was resolved last week when the two camps settled out of court.
According to legal documents reviewed by the Observer, the foundation sought court approval to distribute $30,950 that was raised through donations and memorial T-shirt sales to the intended recipient, Dallas Hope Charities. In a 2021 civil suit, Gale's parents (the plaintiffs) alleged that the band had a legal obligation to turn over these funds and to also be more vigilant in taking action against the sale of unauthorized Power Trip merchandise.
The band responded to the complaint with a motion to dismiss, alleging that the Gale family understated the value of Riley Gale’s assets to circumvent the probate system and gave them a higher valuation when doing so was necessary to file this lawsuit. The band argued that because Gale's estate was never properly probated, the Gales were never bona fide successors in interest to his estate, and thus they do not have standing to sue on its behalf.
In March 2021, the court granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Gales from publicly representing Power Trip’s interests in any capacity, including “taking any action to disrupt … changes and/or cancellations and replacement of a singer for Power Trip.”
The court documents are dense and contain hundreds of pages outlining claims pertaining to both intellectual property and estate law. The main goal of the lawsuit, according to representation for the Gale family, solely has to do with merchandising rights and proceeds.
“The purpose of the family’s litigation was to honor Riley Gale and his legacy,” says the family's attorney Ralph Perry-Miller. “That was the purpose of the litigation, to get the merchandise proceeds that were actually Riley’s share [...] that had been received by the band but not paid to him.”
The Riley Gale Memorial Foundation put out a follow-up statement on Wednesday clarifying the social media statement posted on Dec. 2, saying the foundation's intention was strictly humanitarian, and echoing the statement given to us by Perry-Miller.
“The Gales have not taken a single dollar nor benefited in any way financially from Riley’s estate,” the statement reads. “The Gale family has used its own resources to fund the establishment of the foundation and all expenses from the fundraising events.”
The statement also commends stand-in vocalist Seth Gilmore for “[putting] his all into that performance.”
Court documents indicate that tensions between the parties had escalated beyond a dispute over merch sales, with significant back and forth regarding the contributions of individual band members, events surrounding the band’s conception and overall disagreement over who can claim to represent Power Trip as an entity.
Some points of contention that came to light in the documents even predate Gale's death, including claims from the Gale family that financial information was being withheld from Gale.
Perry-Miller claims that all of the Gale family’s goals were met in the settlement. Details of this settlement have not been made public and the case's status is currently listed as "inactive."
Mark Ticer, the attorney of record for the surviving members of Power Trip and their LLC (“Free Money Enterprises LLC”), declined our requests for comment.
