The long-running money fight inside Supertramp has officially landed in Tampa. Today, the estate of co-founder Rick Davies filed suit in Hillsborough County, accusing former bandmate Roger Hodgson of shorting the estate on publishing royalties from the band’s catalog. The complaint, brought by Davies’ widow as administrator of his estate, asks a Tampa judge to order a full accounting of payments and to apply Florida law to key parts of the dispute. It is the latest round in a battle over a 1977 publishing deal that has already produced federal appeals and years of courtroom sparring.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the suit claims that royalty checks "came up short" for the Davies estate and that his widow wants a Hillsborough County judge to lock in how Florida law should apply to probate and contract questions in the case. Davies’ death in September 2025 and the basic contours of his estate were reported by the Los Angeles Times, which noted his status as one of Supertramp’s two primary songwriters. The Tampa filing says the estate is seeking an accounting, damages and other relief tied to publishing and licensing revenue.
Royalties Fight Tied To 1977 Deal
This latest lawsuit grows out of a 1977 publishing agreement that split songwriting income among Hodgson, Davies and other band members, a contract that has already seen plenty of litigation. The Ninth Circuit reversed a 2024 jury verdict and took up major questions about whether that agreement could be treated as terminable at will, as set out in the appellate opinion in Thomson v. Hodgson. The record in that case shows that payments to non-songwriting band members kept flowing until 2018, when Hodgson and Davies halted those long-standing allocations.
What The Tampa Filing Is After
As outlined in the Tampa Bay Times coverage, the complaint casts the dispute as a shortfall in publishing income that the estate says should be landing with Davies’ heirs. Hodgson is named as a defendant, and the suit asks the court for a line-by-line accounting of how publishing and licensing money has been collected and distributed. The estate also seeks damages, a formal accounting and a declaration spelling out how state law applies to its claims.
Legal Stakes Reach Beyond One Estate
Attorneys following the case say the Tampa action folds into the broader fight that produced last year’s Ninth Circuit ruling, with choice of law and where the case should be heard likely to become front-and-center issues, as noted by Courthouse News Service. The appellate opinion maps out the 1977 royalty split and a long chain of settlements and counterclaims. The new state-court case in Florida could trigger battles over whether issues already aired in federal court can be revisited under Florida law. For estates and catalog owners, it is a reminder that royalty fights can roar back to life after a key songwriter dies.
What Happens Next In Hillsborough County
The complaint is now on the docket in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, with public records and case-management details available through the clerk’s online portal at the Hillsborough Clerk. The courthouse and clerk handle electronic filing and scheduling for civil cases in downtown Tampa, and any motions, hearing notices or responses will be posted to the case file as it progresses. At this early stage, no hearing dates or formal response from Hodgson or his representatives have been made public.
