Hatebreed and its frontman Jamey Jasta say founding bassist Chris Beattie has no legal basis to sue over his ouster from the metalcore band last year.
Beattie brought a lawsuit against Hatebreed and Jasta (James Shanahan) this summer, claiming he had been unfairly kicked out of the band after 30 years. The bassist said Jasta made up a phony story about him harassing a security guard to justify the ouster, when really Jasta wanted to take home a larger share of Hatebreed’s profits.
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Hatebreed and Jasta have now filed their first official response to the litigation. In a motion to strike some of the claims docketed on Thursday (Sept. 25), lawyers for the band and its frontman say Beattie’s lawsuit is a “garden variety band break-up case.”
“Plaintiff, a disgruntled former band member of the band known as ‘Hatebreed,’ erroneously asserts a right to remain a permanent member of the band in perpetuity despite the fact that the underlying relationship between the parties was terminable at-will,” wrote Hatebreed and Jasta’s attorneys.
According to the motion, there is no written contract that guarantees Beattie the right to stay a member of Hatebreed forever. Therefore, the band and Jasta say they had the legal right to fire Beattie at any point, and there’s no valid legal footing for the bassist to bring breach of contract claims against them.
Hatebreed and Jasta are asking a judge to ax four of the six claims in Beattie’s lawsuit, all tied to his ouster from the band. The other two claims concern Hatebreed’s merchandise sales, which are not covered in the motion to strike.
The band and Jasta’s attorney, Brian Caplan, declined to comment on Tuesday (Sept. 30), telling Billboard, “We think the motion papers speak for themselves.” Reps for Beattie did not immediately return a request for comment.
Beattie and Jasta co-founded Hatebreed in 1994, and both remained in the band until this past November, when Beattie abruptly departed and told fans in a social media post that the decision was not his own.
According to Beattie’s lawsuit, filed in July, Jasta fired the bassist and claimed it was because he’d harassed a Live Nation security guard at Connecticut’s Toyota Oakdale Theater. Beattie claimed this was “patently untrue.”
Beattie alleged in his lawsuit that Jasta axed him out of greed so that he could recoup a larger chunk of Hatebreed’s touring revenues, publishing royalties and merchandise sales. The bassist is seeking financial damages from his former bandmates.
