The lawyer for former Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars has blasted the judgement against his client in the lawsuit filed against his former bandmates over unpaid tour revenue.
Ed McPherson tells Rolling Stone, “The decision is awful. It’s not fair. This band has never been fair to Mick. When Mick said I can’t tour anymore because of a hideous disease (ankylosing spondylitis, a painful, disfiguring bone disease), but I can still write, perform one-offs or residencies, and record, they said, ‘Sorry Mick. It’s been 43 years, but you’re out. Goodbye, and we don’t want to pay you anymore.’ This arbitrator said it’s fine. We need to figure out if we’re going to challenge. It’s ridiculous. It’s just a question of whether he wants to keep pursuing this. Basically, he’s over Motley Crue.”
On Wednesday, an arbitrator ruled in the band’s favor, confirming that Mars forfeited any right to touring revenue when he chose to stop touring in 2022 — a rule Mars himself demanded and wrote into the band’s governing agreement in 2008. That amendment explicitly provides that any member who stops touring does not share in touring income.
Despite that agreement, Mars demanded to continue receiving 25% of touring revenue in perpetuity while no longer performing. The arbitrator flatly rejected that position and upheld the band’s decision to terminate Mars as an officer and director for legal cause and ordered him to repay more than $750,000 in unrecouped tour advances.
Commenting on the case, the band’s lawyer Sasha Frid says, “This dispute was about protecting the integrity and legacy of one of the most successful bands in rock history. With the arbitrator rejecting every claim and enforcing the parties’ agreements as written, the band has been fully vindicated—legally, financially, and factually.”
Motley, who replaced Mars with John 5, formerly of David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie‘s bands, start The Return of Carnival of Sins tour on July 17th in the Pittsburgh suburb of Burgettstown, Pennsylvania.
