Mötley Crüe defeats Mick Mars in years-long legal dispute

Mötley Crüe has achieved a major victory in court against former guitarist Mick Mars.

A retired federal judge ruled on Thursday that bandmates Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and Vince Neil could remove the founding member as an officer and director in their business affairs.

In 2023, Mars filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe, alleging that the band attempted to oust him from the group. As per People magazine, the removal occurred after Mars withdrew from a U.S. stadium tour in September 2022 due to his chronic illness.

For those unversed, the 74-year-old was diagnosed with the spinal disease when he was 27.

Patrick J. Walsh, a retired federal judge, ruled that bandmates Nikki, Tommy, and Vince were within their rights to dismiss Mars as both a band member and officer of Mötley Crüe Inc.

"Mars argues that it is immoral for him to be cast aside after forming the backbone of this group for more than four decades merely because his age and AS symptoms precluded him from performing," Walsh said, as per Variety.

"I am not unsympathetic to this argument but it is not for me in the context of this arbitration to weigh in on the morality of the band’s decision," a judge added.

In the final ruling, the judge ordered Mars to pay back $244,000 to the band from the advance because he missed 69 live shows.