Hatebreed Respond to “Disgruntled Former Band Member” Chris Beattie’s Lawsuit
Months after ex-Hatebreed bassist Chris Beattie filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates over his “unexpected” ousting, the band has now officially responded. And in the midst of all the legalese and he-said-she-said is the band trying to dismantle Beattie’s claims and make all this out to be little more than a “garden variety band break-up case.”
Beattie was let go by the band last November and at the time, it came as a shock. He was a founding member and for many, it was a completely unexpected move — even for Beattie himself. He then filed a lawsuit in Connecticut Superior Court in New Haven that following July, in which he took aim directly at frontman Jamey Jasta and the band as an entity.
In the complaint, Beattie alleges that Jasta had been allegedly displaying “increasingly erratic” before firing Beattie, effecively cutting him “off from his career, fans, touring, and substantial expected revenue.” The complaint also alleges that Hatebreed wouldn’t be the same without Beattie’s input over the years, stating that he “contributed significant labor, musical talent, recording and management duties, promotion, and financial resources, without which Hatebreed would not and could not have achieved its current level of recognition and profitability.”
The filing also goes on to allege that there had been an “implied agreement and understanding” that both Jasta and himself were equal co-owners of the band. Specifically, that meant they equally shared in the band’s profits, royalties, and IP rights. However, the lawsuit directly points to a 2015 agreement between himself, Jasta, and drummer Matthew Byrne that says they were each “entitled to 25% of the sales and revenue from merchandise while the other two members of the band received 12.5%, accounting for the remaining 25% of sales.”
Despite that agreement, Beattie claims that there was a severe lack of transparency that caused him and the other members to have zero chance to see how the money was being managed. Leading up to his firing, Beattie said merch payouts were regularly late and the amounts rarely added up to the expected amount. Beattie claimed he asked for financial records in 2023 and 2024, but never saw proper documentation.
Everything apparently came to a head, however, in November 2024 when Jasta told Beattie that he’d been “terminated” from the band over an alleged harassment incident involving a Live Nation security guard at the Toyota Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut. Beattie claims this never happened.
Beattie claims his firing at the hands of Jasta has severely hindered his career, leading to a “significant negative impact on his career, reputation, and health and well-being.” He also claims that the band continues to sell merch with his likeness on it, yet he’s not getting money at all from those sales.
Beattie is seeking financial damages from both the band and Jasta himself. He’s also seeking payment to cover compensatory damages and damages for emotional distress.
On September 25, Hatebreed and Jasta filed their motion to have parts of Beattie’s complaints stricken from the lawsuit. According to a report from Billboard, the legal effort sought to paint the ex-bassist as a “disgruntled former band member” who managed to “erroneously assert[s] a right to remain a permanent member. That, however, flies in the face of what Hatebreed said was a relationship that was “terminable at-will.”
The motion by Hatebreed also revealed that Beattie was one of the signatories of a band merchandise agreement back in 2015 along with Jasta and drummer Matthew Byrne. In that agreement, all three of those named would get 25% of the revenue while the other two members got 12.5% each. They also stressed that under no circumstances did Beattie have any claim to ownership of the band name.
“[Beattie] claims [Jasta] and [Beattie] maintained an ‘implied agreement’ from the Band’s inception that [Beattie] would be an ‘equal co-owner’ and share in the Band’s profits, royalties and rights. [Beattie’s] complaint is devoid of any allegation Hatebreed maintained an agreement with [Beattie] concerning his status with the Band or his entitlement to Band revenues. Without a written agreement with a term, [Beattie’s] relationship with the Band was terminable at-will.”
As for the harrassment claim against a Live Nation security guard that Beattie alleged caused his termination, Hatebreed said that played no part in their decision making.
“[Beattie] merely alleges [Hatebreed and Jasta] ‘abruptly terminated’ [Beattie] from his role in the Band ‘based on unsupported and false allegations’ connected to the Live Nation incident which resulted in his ’emotional distress.’ Even if the Live Nation incident was ‘cited’ as a ‘false narrative’ for his termination, [Beattie’s] allegations do not amount to a cognizable claim because the incident merely preceded his termination — it was not connected with the termination process itself.”
