The legal dispute between Hatebreed and their former bassist, co-founding member Chris Beattie continues to play out in court. In July of this year, it was revealed that Beattie had officially filed suit against his former bandmates and band frontman Jamey Jasta, claiming he was unfairly kicked out of the metalcore group in November 2024.
In his aforementioned suit, Beattie alleged that he was ejected from the band so that members of the group could financially enrich themselves. He also disputed that claims apparently made by Jasta regarding his firing. His dismissal was said to which is said to have come in response to Beattie allegedly harassed a Live Nation security guard during a November 09th, 2024 show at the Toyota Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut.
Beattie claimed that Jasta immediately fired him over the alleged incident, going on to claim that Jasta then “structured a false narrative” to tell the rest of the band regarding the reported incident. Beattie claimed that narrative was created in a bid to dissuade the other members of Hatebreed in showing support for Beattie.
Beattie‘s suit in part stated:
“[James] Shanahan [aka Jamey Jasta] stood to profit from Beattie’s termination, as he would be entitled to a larger share of band proceeds and profits without Beattie in the band. In addition, Beattie and Shanahan were the primary songwriters for the band and together earned the majority of publishing proceeds for their work. With Beattie out of the band, Shanahan likely believed that he could stand to recover significantly more in the way of publishing proceeds.”
Beattie also accused Jasta of being “secretive” regarding the band’s finances and distribution of them, allegedly restricting access to the group’s accounting records. Now Hatebreed and Jasta have responded to those claims in court.
In a motion filed last Thursday, September 25th, Jasta and the band’s legal team characterized Beattie‘s lawsuit as a “garden variety band break-up case.” According to Billboard, this new motion went on to say:
“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.”
Jasta and the band’s motion also claims that there is no written contract that would guarantee that Beattie remains a permanent member of the band, and that they had the right to exercise their decision to fire him. Their motion further claims that firing Beattie did not violate or breach any potential contract claims.
Jasta and the band have have thus asked the judge to dismiss four of the six claims made by Beattie against them in relation to his firing. Two remaining claims regarding Hatebreed‘s merchandising sales were not addressed in this motion.
