Hawthorne Heights Lawsuit Against Victory Hurt By Judge's Ruling

A U.S. District Court judge in Chicago has dismissed two of the claims in Hawthorne Heights' lawsuit against their record label, Victory Records.

Judge Milton Shadur ruled that the emo-punk band's view that their contract with Victory was "terminable at will" and that they could get out of it without notice or reason was "absurd." Therefore, their claims that the label was violating trademark and copyright by continuing to sell their records were thrown out.

"Hawthorne Heights has a binding commitment to deliver two additional full-length albums to Victory, and Victory has the right to distribute and sell those albums," said a statement issued by the label after the judge announced his decision.The group responded with their own statement, which vowed that they would keep up their fight.

"We remain confident in our claims against Victory and [company CEO] Tony Brummel," it said.

"We expect to prevail when all is said and done."

Shadur was filling in for judge James B. Moran, who's recovering from illness, and has left other claims in the band's suit — including fraudulent accounting practices, unfair competition and invasion of privacy — for Moran to rule on.

Victory filed a countersuit against Hawthorne Heights last month and will continue to pursue it.

Hawthorne Heights are in the midst of a U.S. tour and posted on their website that they've written three songs for their next album.