Mötley CrüeMötley Crüe have declared a “decisive victory” in an ongoing legal battle between themselves and former guitarist Mick Mars.
In 2023, Mars sued his ex-bandmates, alleging that he was “unilaterally” removed from the band after he announced his retirement from touring in October 2022. He abandoned the touring life due to ongoing struggles with ankylosing spondylitis—a form of arthritic disease—and claimed that, following his removal, his profit share went down from 25% to 5%.
Mars also alleged that his bandmates belittled him for years and claimed that other members of the band “engaged in partial or complete miming” on tour, per NME.
In the press, Mars didn’t let up, alleging that he “carried these bastards for years. He told Variety in 2023, “Those guys have been hammering on me since ’87, trying to replace me; they haven’t been able to do that because I’m the guitar player.”
Following Mars’ removal, Mötley Crüe replaced him with Rob Zombie’s guitarist, John 5.
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The dispute appears to have been resolved following an arbitrator's ruling. The band’s attorney, Sasha Frid of Miller Barondess, LLP, described the ruling as “a decisive victory” and “a final arbitration award that rejects every claim Mars made against the band and orders him to pay damages back to the group.”
Per a press release, Frid continued, “The arbitrator’s ruling not only vindicates the band contractually and financially but also dismantles the public narrative Mars promoted in interviews with major outlets.”
Regarding Mars’ allegations of his profit share being cut, the arbitrator, the Honourable Patrick Walsh (Ret.), ruled that the guitarist forfeited his right to touring revenue once he pulled out of playing shows. That decision was supported by a statute Mars reportedly wrote into the band’s governing agreement in 2008, which explicitly stated that band members who no longer tour wouldn’t share in touring income.
Mars also admitted under oath that his claims about the band’s miming on tour were false after analysing extensive amounts of performance footage, and Mars’ own retained expert confirmed that the band were playing live.
“This dispute was about protecting the integrity and legacy of one of the most successful bands in rock history,” Frid said. “With the arbitrator rejecting every claim and enforcing the parties’ agreements as written, the band has been fully vindicated — legally, financially, and factually.”
Mötley Crüe returned to Australia for a co-headline stadium run with Def Leppard in late 2023. You can read The Music’s review of the Suncorp Stadium show here.
