Mick Mars Versus MÖTLEY CRÜE: Private Arbitration Now Scheduled for Later in 2024

Mick Mars’s lawyer has told Rolling Stone that the issue of whether the guitarist was illegally severed from MÖTLEY CRÜE is now being scheduled to officially begin ‘private arbitration’ later this year.

When Mars, a co-founding member of MÖTLEY CRÜE, announced his retirement from touring with the group in October 2022 as a result of worsening health issues, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road.

However, he filed a lawsuit against the band in April 2023, saying that, after his announcement, the rest of CRÜE tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group’s corporation and business holdings via a shareholders’ meeting. Specifically, Mars claimed he was asked to sign a severance agreement that would divest him of his 25 percent stake in the band’s various business interests in return for a 5 percent stake in the band’s 2023 tour.

This stake, the lawsuit alleged, would be reduced to 0 percent for future tours. Mick claimed CRÜE’s management later upped the offer from 5 percent to a 7.5 percent stake in the band’s 2023 tour, which would remain contingent on Mars divesting himself from the band and their businesses. When Mars refused to sign the papers, the band took the dispute to arbitration “rather than a public lawsuit so that the public would not be aware of the deplorable manner in which they treated their ‘brother’ of 41 years,” Mick claimed in the lawsuit. “When they wanted to get high and fuck everything up, I covered for them,” Mars told Rolling Stone in an interview last year. “Now they’re trying to take my legacy away, my part of MÖTLEY CRÜE, my ownership of the name, the brand. How can you fire Mr. Heinz from Heinz ketchup? He owns it. Frank Sinatra’s or Jimi Hendrix’s legacy goes on forever, and their heirs continue to profit from it. They’re trying to take that away from me. I’m not going to let them.”

Mars’s lawyer, Ed McPherson, told Rolling Stone that the judge’s ruling on Tuesday (January 16) that MÖTLEY CRÜE took too long to produce some of the documents he requested confirms his client was mistreated by his bandmates. MÖTLEY CRÜE has been ordered by a judge to pay Mick Mars legal fees in the lawsuit he filed.

The hearing on January 16th, 2024 was presided over by the honorable Judge James C. Chalfant and sets the stage for the real legal battle between the parties to begin.

“These documents should have been produced without the need for prodding by Mars,” Judge Chalfant wrote. “[The] failure to produce the documents earlier than December 8 amounts to a refusal.”

“Finally, somebody, somewhere told these guys they can’t bully Mick anymore.”

Despite the decision, the dispute between Motley Crue and Mars continues. The crux of the battle – Mars’ claims that he was illegally severed from the band – is scheduled to be heard by a private arbitrator later this year.

“We’re in the middle of a huge arbitration that will ultimately decide if Mick has to give up his shares or not, if they did things properly or not. Obviously we claim they didn’t do anything properly. But they feel that they’re above the rules. And that’s what this lawsuit was about,” McPherson said.

“This was them feeling they were above the rules, and this judge saying, ‘No, you’re not. And you may have given all the documents now, so there’s nothing left for me to do, but, you’re going to pay for it,” he added. “I think that’s a pretty huge victory for Mick. If they want to claim a victory, that’s fine. But this is someone finally telling Mick, ‘No, you’re not crazy. These guys are bullying you. And we’re not going to let it happen.'”

Mick originally sued MÖTLEY CRÜE so he could go over all the financial books and determine if he was getting what he felt he deserves.

Mars — whose real name is Robert Alan Deal — served as MÖTLEY CRÜE’s lead guitarist since the band’s inception in 1981.

Last year, a short time after Mick filed his lawsuit, MÖTLEY CRÜE’s manager of 30 years, Allen Kovac, told Variety that Mars decided to publicly voice his allegations “to gain leverage in a smear campaign on MÖTLEY. He’s attacked the band, and he’s done it in a slanderous way, with false accusations and misrepresenting the facts to the fans. Mick is not the victim. The victims are MÖTLEY CRÜE and the brand, which Mick is so prideful of.” But, he added, “What’s upsetting to me is not Mick, but his representatives, who have guided Mick to say and do harmful things to the brand he cares about so much, MÖTLEY CRÜE. He has a degenerative disease and people are taking advantage of him. It’s called elder abuse.”

He continued: “Mick’s representatives have no idea what they’ve created, but I’ve stopped the band from speaking about this, so they’re not gonna turn the fans against Mick. But I am going to make sure that people understand that Mick hasn’t been treated badly. In fact, he was treated better than anyone else in the band, and they carried him and they saved his life.”