The legal fallout from MÖTLEY CRÜE’s arbitration victory over former guitarist Mick Mars continues, with Mars’s attorney now publicly pushing back against the ruling that favored the band on all fronts.
An attorney for the former MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist has sharply criticized the arbitrator’s decision, which found that the band acted within its rights when it dismissed Mars as both an officer and bandmember for cause after he stopped touring due to health issues. The ruling also determined that Mars owes the band hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mars’s lawyer, Ed McPherson, did not hold back in his assessment of the outcome: “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, 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 [the decision]. It’s ridiculous. It’s just a question of whether he wants to keep pursuing this. Basically, he’s over MÖTLEY CRÜE.”
The comments come just days after MÖTLEY CRÜE announced what it described as a decisive legal victory in the long-running dispute. Earlier this week, the band said it had secured “a final arbitration award that rejects every claim Mars made against the band and orders him to pay damages back to the group.”
According to a press release issued by the band’s attorney, Sasha Frid of Miller Barondess, LLP, “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.”
The arbitrator ruled that Mars forfeited any right to touring revenue when he chose to stop touring, citing a provision in the band’s governing agreement that states members who no longer tour do not share in touring income. The ruling also upheld the band’s decision to remove Mars as an officer and director and ordered him to repay more than $750,000 in unrecouped tour advances, resulting in a net judgment in favor of MÖTLEY CRÜE.
While the band has framed the ruling as a complete vindication, McPherson’s remarks suggest the matter may not be fully settled. He indicated that Mars is weighing whether to challenge the decision, though he also implied that his client may simply be ready to move on from the dispute and his former band.
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