While Scholz and Delp were recording new material for the third Boston album, CBS filed a 60 million dollar lawsuit against Scholz, alleging breach of contract for failing to deliver a new Boston album on time. Scholz was under contract with Epic, who demanded 2 albums every 9 months for 5 years. Scholz was also sued by Sheehan and Hashian after they were dismissed from the band, eventually settling their suit out of court, with no rights to Boston's name. The legal trouble slowed progress toward the completion of the next album, which was now being recorded in much the same way the original tapes were: in Scholz's basement studio. Joining Scholz in the album's development again were Delp and Jim Masdea. In 1985, guitarist Gary Pihl left Sammy Hagar's touring band (when Hagar joined Van Halen) to work with Scholz as both a musician and an SR&D executive. As CBS v. Scholz played out in court, CBS opted to withhold royalty payments to Scholz, hoping to force him to settle on unfavorable terms. However, Scholz's new high tech company was profitable--- and in any case his expenses were low because he owned his own recording studio and because he did not live the usual extravagant rock star lifestyle. With the help of lawyer Don Engel, Scholz was able to show that he never stopped working to produce the album for Epic, even though a severe back problem should have sidelined him. The lawsuit's first round was decided in Scholz' favor. This allowed him to shop around the third album to other record companies. CBS let it be known that if another major label wanted Boston's contract, they would demand a $900,000 buyout, plus $0.25 per album. The MCA label decided to take on the album, which would be entitled "Third Stage." CBS brought a new case against Scholz and MCA, asking for a preliminary injunction to freeze the deal. The judge decided against CBS and Third Stage then belonged to MCA.