June 25, 2009

By By Billboard staff

Herb Cohen, former record executive and manager for Tom Waits has sued journalist Barney Hoskyns and Random House, his publisher, for $1 million over claims allegedly made in Hoskyns' "Lowside of the Road, A Life of Tom Waits."

The suit was filed filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California and can be viewed here.

According to a release announcing the lawsuit, the book states that during the time that Cohen was Waits' manager, from 1971 to 1982, Cohen "robbed" money from the artist and that Waits sued Cohen and his company, Third Story Music, Inc. for fraudulent accounting practices. In the book, Hoskyns also stated that Cohen "helped himself" to money from his other management clients. Cohen has alleged that these statements are false and defamatory.

Hoskyns' book "Lowside of the Road, A Life of Tom Waits," was published in the United States in May 2009.

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