Out of the blue yesterday, reports leaked saying that Mike Portnoy had filed a lawsuit against his former band mates in Dream Theater back in April of 2011 for “wrongly excluding” him from the band. Portnoy’s response shortly after somewhat clarified that there was some sort of “business dealings” occurring behind the scenes, but didn’t confirm or deny that a lawsuit was involved. Now Dream Theater have responded to these accusations…through their lawyer.

In a letter sent to Blabbermouth, Dream Theater’s attorney Ronald S. Beinstock claimed that there was “no pending litigation” between Dream Theater and their former drummer. His letter stated the following:

“On or around April 27, 2011, Mr. Portnoy filed a ‘Notice With Summons.’ This document is not a formal complaint. Further, the document was never served on any of the named defendants, rendering it moot. There is no pending litigation between Dream Theater and Mr. Portnoy.”

So this answers one big question that arose yesterday: Portnoy and Dream Theater are not in midst of a court battle. However, though Portnoy apparently never served a complaint to the members of Dream Theater directly (as the Courthouse News Service claimed), the band’s lawyer does confirm that Portnoy did indeed file a “Notice With Summons.”

It is quite possible that Portnoy was filing this “informal” complaint to someone outside of Dream Theater for a completely different purpose.  If that’s so, though, then why didn’t Portnoy come right out and say that this had nothing to do with Dream Theater in his response yesterday? He may not be “legally allowed” to comment on whatever the matter is, but you’d think he’d want to clarify that this wasn’t involving Dream Theater if he could considering how die-hard fans may react.

As unfortunate as it is to report on such news and gossip, chances are this is a topic that will continue to develop. In the mean time, you can check out Portnoy’s original statement made via his forum after the jump in case you missed it.

“Everyone needs to chill out.

Stop feeding into this negative poison on the net…

I am legally NOT ALLOWED to speak of business matters, but I’m sure you realize there are two sides to every coin…

If I could openly talk about this stuff and expalin the REALITY of everything, I would love nothing more!!! But I am legally unable to discuss it…

In the meantime, life is bright and positive…I am happy and so are they….so shouldn’t YOU be too???

Don’t believe the hype…Carpe Diem!

MP”