“Mars argues that it is immoral for him to be cast aside... I am not unsympathetic to this argument but it is not for me to weigh in on the morality of the band’s decision”: Judge rules Mötley Crüe were within rights to fire Mick Mars

Mick Mars has lost his court case against Mötley Crüe. It seems that the 80s hair metallers were within their rights to dismiss him as an official for their business affairs, as well as a band member, after he quit touring in 2022.

The guitarist brought the action the following year, alleging that the band had forced him to sign a severance agreement that would divest him of his 25% ownership in Mötley Crüe in return for a 5% stake in the band’s 2023 tour.

He also accused the band of partial or complete miming of live performances, saying that he was the only one playing completely live.

However, a federal judge Patrick Walsh has now ruled in Crüe’s favour. Explaining his decision, Walsh said: “Mars proffered uncontroverted testimony that other rock bands, like Earth, Wind & Fire and The Beach Boys, have provided for their founding/legacy members even after they stopped performing with the band. I do not doubt that that is true and, had the parties agreed to such an arrangement, whether formally or informally, I certainly would have upheld it. But they did not. And I am not at liberty to simply create such an arrangement out of whole cloth.”

“Mars argues that it is immoral for him to be cast aside after forming the backbone of this group for more than four decades. 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.”

It seems that Mars didn’t do his case any favours with his mud-slinging about alleged miming. The band’s lead attorney Sasha Frid said in a statement: “Those accusations collapsed under scrutiny. Faced with extensive live performance recordings - and testimony from his own retained expert, a New York University professor specializing in music technology - Mars was forced to admit under oath that his statements were false. His expert confirmed that the band performed live, and Mars formally recanted his prior claims during sworn testimony.”

The decision has also turned out to be expensive for Mars. Walsh ruled that whilst the band owes him $500,000 for his quarter stake after he was fired, that is more than wiped out by the $750,000 in advance money he owes for the 2022 tour he dropped out of, meaning that he must pay his erstwhile bandmates approximately $244,000.

Now 74, Mars has struggled with poor health in recent years, though he hasn’t fully retired from music just yet – he released a solo album, The Other Side Of Mars, in 2024.