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Mötley Crüe loses their legal battle with Mick Mars, forced to pay his legal fees in the fallout.
That’s 0 for Mötley Crüe and 1 for Mick Mars, for those keeping score in their ongoing legal battle. At least, according to Mars’ lawyer. A Los Angeles judge has agreed that the band had “unjustly refused” to provide Mars information on the machinations of its business dealings, as it was looking to boot the guitarist last year.
According to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant, Mars is entitled to the band covering his attorney fees, and that their failure to provide him with documents pertaining to the band’s business dealings earlier than December 8 “amounts to a refusal,” leaving him no choice but to sue them for said documents.
“The requests were not burdensome. Yet, Mars was compelled to file suit, and it appears plain that production would not have occurred without it,” says Judge Chalfant in his ruling on Tuesday.
When the band produced some of the requested documents in early November, the judge says that it gave assurances that “this was all of the responsive documents” in the band’s possession. This proved untrue, as articles of incorporation and income tax returns arrived among a whopping 1,372 pages of records delivered in December.
“These documents should have been produced without the need for prodding by Mars,” explains Judge Chalfant. “Failure to produce the documents earlier than December 8 amounts to a refusal.”
Still, the judge’s ruling also notes that Mars’ lawsuit is now moot — meaning the guitarist’s request for subsequent ledger entries from 2023 will not be granted since they were not included on his list of outstanding documents filed in November.
As a result, attorneys for the band have been quick to note that this portion of the ruling amounts to a victory for Mötley Crüe, stating that “By denying the petition as moot and ending the case, the court found that the band turned over all the documents to Mars and there is nothing more to do. The band went above and beyond its obligations (to Mars).” Mars’ lawyer rebuffed that assessment, stating that the case is over only because the band relented and complied.
Meanwhile, the “heart of the case,” according to Mars’ attorneys — whether he was illegally severed from the band following his announcement that 2022 would be his last tour with the band — is heading to private arbitration later this year. Mars has long suffered from the painful bone disease ankylosing spondylitis, which has made it difficult to travel, culminating in his bowing out in 2022.
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