I get around.

Former Beach Boy guitarist Alan Jardine won an appeal last month in the long-running breach of fiduciary duty fight against his ex-bandmates.

"It was a complete win," said Jardine's lawyer, Jeffrey Benice. "Al is ecstatic."

In June 2001, Jardine sued record label Brother Records Inc. and Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Melinda Wilson, Gudvi Bernard and the Carl Wilson Trust, its majority shareholders. Jardine, who holds a 25 percent interest in BRI, claimed that by not allowing him to use the name Beach Boys for his new band, "the majority shareholders of BRI have damaged Al's minority shareholder rights by freezing him out," Benice said.

He is seeking between $5 million and $10 million in damages. "His claim is one for damages, which are substantial, based on lost touring income and other misconduct," Benice said.

The Superior Court case has played out against the backdrop of a federal trademark case brought by BRI aimed at having Jardine stop using the Beach Boys name. BRI won the trademark dispute, which forced Jardine to change the name of his band from Beach Boys Family and Friends to Al Jardine's Family & Friends Beach Band.

That ruling led an L.A. Superior Court judge to dismiss Jardine's claim in July 2002, saying that the decision in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California addressed the breach of contract issue.

But on Oct. 29, a three-judge panel disagreed, stating Jardine has a right to argue his breach of fiduciary duty claims in the lower court.

Philip Stillman, a partner at Flynn & Stillman representing BRI and the individual defendants, did not return calls.

Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at [phone] ext. 225, or at [e-mail].