Mötley Crüe Wins Arbitration Against Ex-Guitarist Mick Mars; He Owes $244K

Mötley Crüe has won an arbitration ruling against former guitarist Mick Mars, with a final decision on Jan. 29 finding that bandmates Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee were permitted to remove Mars as an officer and director, Rolling Stone and Variety report. Mars sued the band in 2023, alleging they attempted to oust him after he stepped away from a U.S.

stadium tour in September 2022 because of his chronic illness, ankylosing spondylitis, according to an April 2023 filing obtained by PEOPLE. Mars, 74, was diagnosed with the spinal disease at 27. Retired federal judge Patrick J. Walsh, who issued the final arbitration ruling, said Sixx, Lee and Neil were within their rights to dismiss Mars as both a band member and officer.

"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, Variety reports. "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." The arbitrator also ruled that Mars owes the band $750,030 in advance money after missing 69 live shows, while the three bandmates owe him about $505,737 for his stake in the band.

As a result, Mars was ordered to pay the group $244,000, according to the documents.

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