Jim Croce's widow sued his producers and their lawyer over the contracts he signed in 1968, and won only against the lawyer

On 17 September 1968 Jim and Ingrid Croce signed three contracts with companies run by Terry Cashman, Tommy West and the lawyer Philip Kurnit: a recording contract, a publishing contract and a personal management contract. The deals gave the companies exclusive rights to Croce's recordings and songs for up to seven years. West was a college friend of Croce and introduced Kurnit as "the lawyer." Kurnit explained the contracts to the Croces for several hours and did not tell them to hire their own lawyer. Croce had hits with "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle," then died in a plane crash in Louisiana on 20 September 1973, at 30. In 1978 Ingrid Croce sued in federal court in Manhattan for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and unconscionability. A jury returned a special verdict in June 1982. The court found the contracts were hard bargains but not unconscionable, and refused to cancel them. It dismissed the claims against Cashman and West. It found that Kurnit, as a principal in the deal who explained it to people with no lawyer, owed them a fiduciary duty and breached it. Ingrid Croce won judgment against him for costs and attorney's fees. The family later said it owns the publishing and the masters^†.