Robbie didn't withhold John Simon's royalty payments, Capitol Records did. It's amazing how often that happens in the music business. When The Dixie Chicks had the number one album in the world, they weren't receiving their checks from Sony. Their lawyer was told in essence "We don't pay royalties. If you want your money, you'll have to sue us to get it." So they did, and got a real nice settlement, including their own boutique label. Bands that don't have the money to fight their record company get screwed ALL THE TIME. What you don't expect, is to get screwed by another artist.
John Simon hadn't seen the guys since he had done the brown album with them, seven years before The Last Waltz. He had no idea what Robertson had been doing in regards to songwriting credits, etc. Lawyers are expensive (no duh), and guys like John Simon, on the fringes of the music business, don't have a need for or the means to pay one. Guys like Robertson, savvy and selfish, know how to pull a con (a real good one can even get himself elected President of The United States ;-). It's easy to fault John Simon for letting Robbie take advantage of his naivete', but John had no reason to suspect he was being set up.
