All That Remains have collectively filed suit against Elizabeth Herbert, widow of the metalcore outfit’s late guitarist, Oliver “Oli” Herbert. Concord Music, who have assumed the duties of the publishing/royalty rights of the disputed recordings, have also been named as a nominal defendant in that suit.
Blabbermouth.net report that the suit was filed in a Connecticut court on January 06th, 2023. The aforementioned publication claim that the complaint alleges that Elizabeth has been blocking the proper distribution of royalties for the band’s music which they recorded with her late husband.
Oli himself was found dead on the property of the Stafford Springs, CT home he shared with Elizabeth back in October of 2018. Elizabeth would later go on to claim that Oli had been had been self-medicating for ‘manic depression’ around the time of his death.
She also stated that he had traces of anti-depressants and a sleeping aid in his system at the time of his death, citing his toxicology report. Oli was found to have drowned in a shallow pond on the aforementioned property.
Roughly a week prior to Oli‘s suspicious October 2018 death, he signed a will which named Elizabeth as his Sole Executrix/Benefactor. That document was signed under notably unconventional circumstances.
A criminal investigation into his death was launched by local authorities and remains ongoing. While fans of Oli have rallied for ‘justice’ for Oli in the wake of his death, some have also gone further, going on to target Elizabeth, alleging she may have been involved in his passing. Elizabeth has repeatedly denied these allegations.
In 2019 it was revealed that Elizabeth and the core members of All That Remains had become involved in a legal dispute, with Elizabeth claiming that the band had not paid her late husband’s share of revenue from shows they had played together since his passing, among other claims.
In the new lawsuit filed earlier this month, All That Remains vocalist Philip Labonte, guitarist Mike Martin and drummer Jason Costa, claim that Elizabeth had publicly stated that she was a “co-owner of the band’s entire catalog” on social media.
The All That Remains camp further claim that Elizabeth alleged that the group “were stealing from her and using her late husband’s recordings without permission, disparaged [them] on social media, threatened to report the Band to various federal, state and local authorities, claimed the Band had committed crimes, threatened to sue the Band in multiple jurisdictions, and falsely claimed that she had sued the Band.”
The trio also stated that Elizabeth had also taken to social media to field “crowdsourced suggestions for ‘what state agency’ to complain to about ‘the record company [that] is holding $$S owed to the Estate.'”
Given the nature of the dispute, the All That Remains camp claim that Concord Music initially withheld paying royalties to all involved parties until both the band and Elizabeth could work out their issues.
While Concord Music eventually agreed to pay out the royalties with Oli‘s percentage being withheld in escrow for several periods, the band claim the music company ultimately decided to end that arrangement, going on to withhold further payment to all parties, until they mutually resolved their dispute.
Per the the lawsuit, it is stated that Oli, and subsequently his estate, hold a 27% interest in the recordings that are in dispute. While the All That Remains camp state that they pushed for a letter of direction arrangement that would see Elizabeth paid directly from Concord Music as a direct payee for her late husband’s interests in regards to the recordings, they claim that she refused to sign the documents. They assert that she requested a judge to oversee the arrangement.
The band are seeking for the court to have the proposed letter of direction to make Elizabeth a direct payee from the record company for her husband’s stakes in the group officially executed. They hope in turn that agreement would hopefully resolve the ongoing standoff.
With several payment periods of royalties remaining in escrow for Oli‘s estate, the band are also seeking to have all currently withheld royalties/publishing monies owed to both themselves and Oli‘s estate paid out.
The relationship between the surviving members of All That Remains and Elizabeth has long been strained, with Labonte publicly calling her a “garbage human being” back in 2019.
These current legal disputes have also been taking place amid a period of notable success for the band, with group having landed two gold singles (“What If I Was Nothing” and their cover of Garth Brooks‘ “The Thunder Rolls“) in the United States In November of 2021, and a platinum single for “Two Weeks” in November of this year.
Comments