Motley Crue Sue Manager For Exploiting Tommy Lee
Thursday June 21, 2007 @ 06:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
 Tommy Lee |
Motley Crue have sued Tommy Lee's manager, Carl Stubner, and the Sanctuary Management Group for more than $20 million U.S. for encouraging the drummer to pursue solo projects at the expense of the band.
The lawsuit seeks damages for breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud. It was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday and claims that the NBC reality show Tommy Lee Goes To College detracted from Lee's image as a respected musician and that his participation in CBS' Rock Star: Supernova disrupted the 2005 Red, White & Crue tour, forced the band to cancel 40 dates last year and scuttled plans for a new album that was supposed to come out this year. This allegedly caused the group to lose more than $8 million in ticket and merchandise sales last year, when their revenue totalled $19 million, and jeopardizes a tour this year.
The lawsuit states that in December 2005 Stubner acknowledged that Lee should be "exclusively available" to record, tour and film a movie in support of the tour.
But the band claim that Stubner would only make Lee available for shows if his commission was increased because he received higher commissions for Lee's solo projects since he didn't have to share his take with the band's two other managers. The plaintiffs have also accused him of demanding 100 free tickets per show and selling them at "scalper" prices.
Carl Stubner
In response to the suit, Stubner and Sanctuary issued this statement through a company spokesperson:
"Neither Carl Stubner nor Sanctuary Artist Management Inc. (nor any other Sanctuary company) have ever managed Motley Crue or any members of Motley Crue other than Tommy Lee. Mr. Stubner and Sanctuary continue to manage Tommy Lee and make no apology for having effectively managed, promoted and furthered Tommy's career with great success. Mr. Stubner and Sanctuary will vociferously defend this lawsuit which is utterly and entirely without merit or basis."
