{"id":674194,"date":"2026-11-04T00:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T00:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674194\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T00:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T00:48:09","slug":"mastodon-seek-partial-dismissal-of-lawsuit-from-brent-hinds-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674194\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastodon Seek Partial Dismissal of Lawsuit From Brent Hinds’ Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe members of Mastodon<\/a> filed paperwork on Monday asking a judge to dismiss parts of a lawsuit that Billy Hinds \u2014 the father of the band\u2019s late former guitarist, Brent Hinds<\/a> \u2014\u00a0filed on behalf of the estate of Brent Hinds against them. Much of the 20-page filing picks apart the phrasing of the original complaint. \u201cThese distinctions matter,\u201d it says in the filing.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the memorandum, obtained by Rolling Stone, they dispute that they owe the guitarist\u2019s estate any money from using Hinds\u2019 likeness on the cover art for their recently released album, Marrow Deep<\/a>, and take issue with the \u201cbuyout process\u201d related to divesting Hinds of Mastodon\u2019s business interests. \u201cEven assuming the truth of the Estate\u2019s allegations, large swaths of the Complaint\u2019s legal theories fail to state a claim and should be dismissed,\u201d the band\u2019s lawyers write in the paperwork.<\/p>\n

\n\tMastodon\u2019s lawyers claim that the individual members of the band should not be held personally liable in the suit since Mastodon is a limited liability company. They claim that any offer of a buyout from one of the band\u2019s subsidiary companies to Hinds before his death did not constitute a binding obligation for them to go through with it. Moreover, they claim that Hinds\u2019 estate can\u2019t set its own prices for such a buyout: \u201cThe Complaint cannot allege an agreed purchase price \u2014 it does not even allege that Hinds offered a purchase price when he requested to be bought out,\u201d Mastodon\u2019s filing says.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a section contesting the Hinds estate\u2019s allegations of \u201cbreach of fiduciary duty\u201d they stand by the decision to use his image on their album cover. They claim that the estate failed to prove a fiduciary relationship between the band and the use of the image in the artwork. And in another section addressing \u201cconversion\u201d (theft), they contest allegations that they stole Hinds\u2019 25 percent ownership interest in the band. \u201cWhile the Estate alleges that [Mastodon] purported to redeem those interests and refused to recognize its rights, there is no allegation that [Mastodon] seized, transferred, or withheld any stock certificates or other documents embodying Hinds\u2019s interests,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tThey also nitpick the wording related to the use of Hinds\u2019 image saying that the estate should explain how it would govern the use of his likeness in the future. \u201cTo the extent it seeks to prohibit future uses, it seeks to direct [Mastodon\u2019s] future conduct rather than obtain guidance concerning its own,\u201d the band\u2019s paperwork says.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Mastodon had no comment. Billy Hinds\u2019 lawyer did not immediately reply to Rolling Stone\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hinds estate filed its complaint<\/a> in September. The filing alleged that Hinds had not legally formalized his dismissal from Mastodon (they \u201cmutually parted ways\u201d in March 2025) by the time he died in August 2025. It claimed the band gave the estate a check for $80,000 to represent Hinds\u2019 share in the band and would constitute a buyout. The estate refused to cash the check. \u201cSadly, a private business dispute with the estate of our dear departed friend Brent Hinds was made public,\u201d the band said at the time. \u201cWe strongly deny allegations of ill intent on our part and intend to vigorously defend what we believe is a meritless lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The members of Mastodon filed paperwork on Monday asking a judge to dismiss parts of a lawsuit that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2126,54,93,61,60,15642,278],"class_list":["post-674194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-controversy","tag-courts","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mastodon","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}