Seal has lost his bid to overturn that previous court ruling that ordered him to pay his ex-manager commission on earnings from his first two albums.
As previously reported, John Wadlow won his case against the singer last June when the High Court in London ruled that the former manager was due the commissions because of a 1995 agreement. An earlier agreement between the two men was called into question because it was alleged Wadlow had used undue influence to coerce his client into signing it. However the 1995 agreement superseded that contract, and the judge ruled that agreement was legitimate. Seal was ordered to pay Wadlow £500,000 as a preliminary payment until accounts relating to the albums could be properly assessed.
Seal appealed the ruling, claiming the 1995 agreement was reached by undue influence on Wadlow's part also, but Judge Roger Toulson in the Appeals Court backed his colleague in the High Court who ruled that was not so, noting the agreement, which ended the singer and manager's business relationship, was "not unreasonable or oppressive" from Seal's point of view.