Jack Keating, Staff Reporter The Province
On the third day of intense cross-examination yesterday, Sarah McLachlan fired back at her accuser Darryl Neudorf.
"Unfortunately, Darryl had a pretty elevated and deluded sense of what he did on this project," McLachlan told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen.
Neudorf's lawyer, Jonathan Simkin, reminded McLachlan she had earlier made a similar comment about former band member Sherri Iwaschuk and suggested that anyone who disagrees with her has an "elevated" sense of importance.
"No I'm talking about Darryl," McLachlan retorted.
The exchange came on the third day of incessant grilling in which she was caught in a handful of inconsistencies and contradictions from her examination for discovery in 1996 and sworn affidavits in 1997.
Through it all the superstar singer stuck to her guns: She doesn't believe Neudorf deserves any songwriting credit on her 1988 debut CD Touch because he didn't write the songs in question.
"I don't think it was song-writing," she said in reference to Vox. "I have a strong feeling in my heart that I wrote that song. I have since 1988."
Neudorf, 34, a Vancouver producer and former drummer with the band 54-40, is suing for song-writing credit on four songs on Touch -- Steaming, Vox, Sad Clown and Strange World -- and for copyright infringement. He wants a share of royalties and co-production credit on Touch, which sold more than 625,000 copies.
McLachlan, 30, who was on the stand for five days, was relieved to be out of the witness box.
"It seemed a bit endless," she said outside court of her cross-examination. "It's very nice (her testimony is over)."
The trial, now in its fifth week, has cost about $300,000, according to Nettwerk owners yesterday.
Nettwerk offered $100,000 to settle but Neudorf was seeking close to $400,000, according to a published report.
Simkin said the report, which was attributed to unnamed music-industry sources, was "incorrect."
The McLachlan camp says it tried to settle out of court.
"At some point you have to stand up and fight for what's right," said Terry McBride, McLachlan's manager and CEO of Nettwerk Productions.