Cher successfully defended her contractual right to receive half of certain Sonny & Cher royalties, but a federal judge has refused to make Sonny Bono’s widow reimburse the singer’s $1,023,605.30 attorney bill.
U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt denied Cher’s fee request on July 17.
According to PEOPLE, he concluded that the provision of federal copyright law cited by Cher did not authorize a fee award because her successful claims were resolved under California contract law.
Mary filed her appeal in December 2025. The public Ninth Circuit docket shows the case was temporarily closed for mediation, with a conference scheduled for July 23 and the administrative closure extended through July 30.
The Judge Rejected Cher’s $1.02 Million Fee Request
Cher requested $1,023,605.30 in attorney fees in January, arguing that the legal work was necessary to defeat Mary’s attempt to end royalty payments required by Cher and Sonny’s 1978 marriage settlement agreement.
Her attorneys maintained that the successful breach-of-contract and declaratory-relief claims shared the same central facts as Mary’s unsuccessful counterclaim, making it unnecessary to divide the bill according to the time spent on each claim.
Kronstadt rejected the request because the court ultimately treated Cher’s royalty rights as contractual rather than as rights created by the Copyright Act. Although federal copyright termination provisions triggered the dispute, Cher prevailed because the judge found that those provisions did not erase the separate payment obligations contained in the divorce agreement.
Cher’s Contractual Royalty Rights Remain Protected
The final district court judgment, entered in November 2025, declared that a termination notice served by Sonny’s heirs did not cancel or alter Cher’s rights under the 1978 settlement. The agreement gave Cher 50% of qualifying composition royalties from songs written or acquired before February 1974. It also assigned her half of the receipts from certain recording contracts entered into before the couple separated.
Kronstadt awarded Cher $187,534.91 in composition royalties that Mary had received and retained, plus prejudgment interest at an annual rate of 7% beginning in February 2022.
Earlier proceedings also established that Wixen Music Publishing was holding $418,156.82 in composition royalties that would otherwise have been distributed to Cher as of June 30, 2022. That amount was distinct from the $187,534.91 damages award entered against Mary.
Mary retained discretion, subject to the rights of Sonny’s four children, to choose the heirs’ royalty administrator. Cher may still raise reasonable objections concerning the administrator’s qualifications, contract terms and fees.
The Dispute Covers the Sonny & Cher Catalog
Cher and Sonny became one of the defining pop duos of the 1960s with recordings including “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” Their 1978 settlement continued dividing covered publishing and recording income after their marriage and performing partnership ended.
After Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998, Mary became the administrator of his estate. In 2016, his heirs served a termination notice under a provision allowing authors or their heirs to reclaim certain previously transferred copyrights.
Mary argued that the termination eliminated Cher’s right to continue receiving half of Sonny’s royalties. Cher maintained that the heirs could reclaim copyrights without invalidating the separate financial obligation created by the divorce settlement, and Kronstadt agreed.