Groucutt remained with ELO until the onset of the recording sessions for the album "Secret Messages" in 1982. It was at this juncture that he left the band, unhappy with royalty payments during his tenure, and made the decision to sue management and band leader Jeff Lynne. A settlement for the sum of £300,000 () was reached out of court prior to proceedings. He is credited with playing bass on "Secret Messages", although the 2018 album liner notes state that he only played on four songs ("Train of Gold" and "Rock n Roll is King" from the single disc release and "No Way Out" and "Beatles Forever") from the original double album.