But it's not every contract dispute that gets jurors tapping their toes and bobbing their heads to rock videotapes from an old Jay Leno show.

Leno's guests on the tape played this week in federal court were Better Than Ezra, the group responsible for the biggest-selling Louisiana rock album in modern times. The band found itself cast as defendant against efforts by its former drummer to pry $1 million from the band.

To buttress his case, Cary Bonnecaze tried to prove the group was worth $3 million when he stopped pounding the skins in early 1996 and that he deserved one third of it.

An hour after a six-person federal jury began deliberating late Thursday, the two sides reached a settlement. U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous ordered both sides not to discuss its terms.

The settlement meant the jury did not get to decide what a rock 'n roll band is "worth" and what, if anything, Bonnecaze was owed. His former bandmates, Kevin Griffin and Tom Drummond, said their 1994 operating agreement entitled Bonnecaze to no more than what he already had collected, about $200,000, from sales of "Deluxe," a 1995 release that sold 1.4 million copies, plus his share of future sales.

Even if Bonnecaze was awarded a payout, his arithmatic was way off, Griffin and Drummond contended. He had failed to factor in expenses and seemed to ignore the group's declining chart performance, defense attorneys argued.

The four-day trial provided a glimpse into the business end of a band that got its start at Louisiana State University 11 years ago and did what most bands only dream of: release a platinum-selling album with a major label.

After years of touring, the band in mid-1995 traded in its van for a tour bus, with TVs, VCRs, a bunk bed and a driver. Better Than Ezra started 1995 with $300 and $500 gigs; by year's end they were getting $15,000 at some clubs and grossed $25,000 at a private party in Houston.

"That was a fun time," Drummond, the band's bassist, testified.

Still, tensions escalated among members, who at one point were sharing a house on Chestnut Street in Uptown New Orleans. Bonnecaze claimed he was terminated; his former bandmates said he quit near the end of the "Deluxe" tour and had to be talked into finishing the scheduled dates.

Bonnecaze contended that he deserved copyright credit on some songs, a claim which Porteous dismissed.

During the trial, they battled over credit card statements, with Bonnecaze accusing his former bandmates of wrongfully deducting expenses from his cut after he left and Griffin and Drummond countering that their ex-drummer actually netted more from the sale of "Deluxe" than they did, in part because they continued to incur expenses.

Each side assembled a legal team worthy of a corporation. In Bonnecaze's corner were attorney William A. Porteous III, a distant cousin of the judge, along with state senators Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge; and John Hainkel, R-New Orleans.

Griffin, Drummond and the Better Than Ezra corporate entity hired two partners from McGlinchey Stafford, Stephen Rider and Eric Shuman, whose client list includes Phillips Petroleum and Kaiser Aluminum.

Shuman told jurors Bonnecaze got his due in a venture that rises and falls on the whims of the buying public.

"Last year it was swing and guys in zoot suits," he said. "This year it is Britney Spears."

In announcing the settlement, Judge Porteous urged both sides to move on and not rethink their decision.

Bonnecaze, who has quit the music business and now owns a French Quarter shop, said he was pleased with the resolution.

"I wish Kevin and Tom the best," he said. "Now we can all sail off into the sunset."

His former bandmates also expressed relief.

"It is not an experience I hope to go through again," Drummond said.

Griffin, the group's singer, songwriter and guitarist, borrowed a quote from John Phillips, leader of the '60s rock band The Mamas & The Papas: Knowledge is what you get when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.

"That," Griffin said, "is all I have to say."