Controversy
In 1981, Diana Ross recorded a new version of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", which again became a hit and the royalties on the song passed over a million dollars.
In 1986, three women claiming to be Lymon's widow filed a law suit in New York's Superior Court claiming the rights to the song. It was revealed that Goldner conned "the Teenagers" into signing a contract which was not valid by law and that the song was in fact written by Herman Santiago and that he (Goldner) had received all of the royalties and that Santiago never received a cent as author of the song; the Court then ruled that none of the widows were entitled to the rights of the song.
In December 1992, the U.S. federal court ruled that the rights to the song belonged to Herman Santiago and that Jimmy Merchant and Emira Lymon (the true widow) were also entitled to receive royalties dating back to 1969. Herman Santiago was by now homeless and living in a car when he received the news and soon went from being homeless to becoming a millionaire.
However, in 1996 the ruling was reversed by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit (on the basis of the statute of limitations), and authorship of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" currently remains solely in the names of Frankie Lymon and music publisher Morris Levy. The song is currently owned by EMI Music Publishing.
Read more about this topic: Herman Santiago
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