Mötley Crüe wins lengthy legal battle against former guitarist Mick Mars: ‘The band has been fully vindicated’

The members of Mötley Crüe are feeling all right after coming out victorious against former guitarist Mick Mars.

Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee did nothing wrong when they removed Mars, 74, as an officer and director in their business affairs, retired federal judge Patrick J. Walsh ruled in a final arbitration on Thursday.

Walsh’s ruling came nearly three years after Mars filed a lawsuit against his former Mötley Crüe bandmates in April 2023.

He alleged that Neil, 64, Sixx, 67, and Lee, 63, tried to remove him as a shareholder after he stepped away from the “Dr. Feelgood” group due to his battle with ankylosing spondylitis during a 2022 stadium tour.

“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, 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,” the retired judge added, according to the outlet.

The ailing guitarist was ordered to pay his former bandmates $750,000 in advance money for missing 69 live shows, per the final arbitration documents.

However, because the “Kickstart My Heart” rockers owed Mars a little over $500,000 for his stake in the band, he only had to pay Neil, Sixx and Lee roughly $250,000.

Mötley Crüe’s attorney, Sasha Frid, said that the group’s “dispute” was “about protecting the integrity and legacy of one of the most successful bands in rock history” in a statement to People after the decision.

“With the arbitrator rejecting every claim and enforcing the parties’ agreements as written, the band has been fully vindicated – legally, financially, and factually,” she told the outlet.

Mars’ lawyer called Walsh’s ruling “awful” in a statement to Rolling Stone.

“It’s not fair. This band has never been fair to Mick,” Ed McPherson argued. “When Mick said I can’t tour anymore because of a hideous disease, but I can still write, perform one-offs or residencies, and record, they said, ‘Sorry Mick. It’s been 43 years, but you’re out. Goodbye, and we don’t want to pay you anymore.'”

“This arbitrator said it’s fine. We need to figure out if we’re going to challenge [the decision]. It’s ridiculous. It’s just a question of whether he wants to keep pursuing this,” McPherson continued. “Basically, he’s over Mötley Crüe.”

Elsewhere during his initial April 2023 filing, Mars claimed that the “Girls, Girls, Girls” rockers would perform over pre-recorded tracks during the 2022 tour.

“Nikki’s bass was 100% recorded,” he told Variety at the time. “Tommy’s drums, to the best of my knowledge, there was a lot.”

Sixx denied the former Mötley Crüe guitarist’s claims, and Mars was reportedly “forced to admit under oath that his statements were false” during arbitration.

“His expert confirmed that the band performed live, and Mars formally recanted his prior claims during sworn testimony,” the band’s legal team told the outlet.

The Post has reached out to Mötley Crüe’s reps for comment.

Mötley Crüe was formed by Sixx and Lee in Los Angeles in 1981. The pair – who played bass and drums, respectively – recruited Neil for vocals and Mars for guitar shortly after.

Although the group, whose hits also include “Home Sweet Home” and “Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” booted Neil from the band in 1992, they ultimately reunited in 2004.

The original Mötley Crüe formation continued performing together until Mars retired from touring due to his ankylosing spondylitis in October 2022, at which point he was replaced by John 5.

Neil, meanwhile, recently revealed that he suffered his own health scare that forced the “Wild Side” rockers to postpone their Las Vegas residency last year.

“I had a stroke,” the singer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in September. “My whole left side went out.”

“I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough,” Neil explained. “The doctors said they didn’t think I’d be able to go back on stage again. I go, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it. Watch and see.’”