Motley Crue members seek to compel arbitration of Mick Mars’ claims

Mick Mars’ former Motley Crue bandmates want his legal action alleging he was wrongfully dismissed from the band because he was dealing with health problems that limited his touring ability to be decided by an arbitrator rather than in the courts.

The 72-year-old former lead guitarist for the group filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court on April 6 asking that companies associated with the band turn over business records and pay for his attorneys’ fees. Mars says he has suffered from a chronic form of arthritis that has effectively fused his spine and made him three inches shorter than he was in high school and that he is unable to turn his head in any direction.

Mars is a 25% shareholder in the entities. He last appeared in concert with the band in September and the group now tours with substitute guitarist John 5, a 52-year-old former member of Marilyn Manson’s band.

The other band members have said Mars was retiring from the group and would be replaced. Mars maintains he is not retiring and he alleges band co-founder and bassist Nikki Sixx has wrongfully alleged the plaintiff has a cognitive dysfunction.

In court papers filed Wednesday, Motley Crue attorneys state that Mars “entered into enforceable agreements to arbitrate the claims in the verified petition filed in this action.” The group’s lawyers also want parts of the petition stricken that they say contain false allegations unrelated to the issues in the case, including a paragraph that states that two of the other band members were addicted to heroin for much of their careers and that one has had a continuous, severe alcohol addiction.

In a sworn declaration, the 64-year-old Sixx says a 1987 shareholder agreement for Motley Crue Inc. contains a broad arbitration provision.

“It was always the intent of the band members to submit their legal disputes regarding the band and its business, if any, to arbitration,” Sixx says. “A primary reason for this provision was to avoid putting the band’s disputes into the public realm where they would become subject to tabloid and media gossip.”

A hearing on the Motley Crue motions is scheduled for Aug. 10 before Judge James C. Chalfant.

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