All That Remains members vocalist Philip Labonte, guitarist Michael Martin, and drummer Jason Costa have filed a lawsuit against Elizabeth Herbert, the widow of the band's late guitarist Oliver "Oli" Herbert. The lawsuit claims Herbert is holding up royalty payments to All That Remains members and has been making claims of ownership to some the band's songs.
According to the lawsuit as obtained by Blabbermouth, the suit was filed on January 6 United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. All That Remains claims Herbert has leveled accusations at band members Labonte, Martin, and Costa over the years, "including alleging that [they] 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."
All That Remains cites a Facebook post from August 16, 2021 where Herbert claims she is "a co-owner of the Band's 'entire catalog'" and has "asserted various claims" against Concord Music Group (named as a "nominal defendant" in the lawsuit), who distributes All That Remains' music and handles their royalties. Labonte, Martin, and Costa also claim within the lawsuit that "on or about October 8, 2022, Herbert publicly posted about her desire to assert claims against Concord Music and crowdsourced suggestions for 'what state agency' to complain to about 'the record company [that] is holding $$$ owed to the Estate.'"
Due to the dispute between All That Remains and Herbert over Oli's royalties, Concord Music is now refusing to pay out any further royalties until they receive clear instruction on what to do. Concord Music originally paid All That Remains what was owed to Oli for both the periods ending in December 31, 2021 and June 30, 2022 "provided the Band agreed to hold Oli's percentage interest in such monies in escrow." These payments with All That Remains holding on Oli's percentage to were viewed as "accommodations" until the matter was resolved, which it wasn't.
"However, notwithstanding these 'accommodations,' Concord Music has advised Plaintiffs' representatives that Concord will not release any further royalties (including the anticipated royalties to be paid to the Band for the period ending December 31, 2022) due to the Band members — not just Oli's share of such royalties — until such time as Concord Music receives a letter of direction signed by the Estate and the Band with respect to payment instructions for Oli's share of the Recordings and Compositions."
The lawsuit further claims that Labonte, Martin, and Costa are currently in possession of Oli's royalties for the aforementioned periods and are ready to "pay such monies to the [Herbert]." Labonte, Martin, and Costa claim they had a letter of direction to Concord Music effective as of April 25, 2022 ready for Herbert to sign to resolve the issue, which would "[identify] Ms. Herbert and/or the Estate as the new payee for Oli's share of the Band's [royalties]."
Labonte, Martin, and Costa claim Herbert refused to sign the letter, saying "she 'cannot in good faith sign anything presented to me without a judge overseeing the process. Ms. Herbert also published a post on Facebook on October 14 confirming that she had sent an email to the Band's attorney 'telling him never to contact me again or ask for my signature on a document' and indicating that she 'will NEVER sign anything.'"
Labonte, Martin, and Costa are asking the court to rule that either Oli or the estate have a 27% interest in the All That Remains albums named in the lawsuit, and that Herbert signs the requested letter of direction to Concord Music in order to resume royalty payments. They also ask the court to order Concord Music to "pay all monies due and owing to Plaintiffs in respect of record and/or music publishing monies to Plaintiffs" and "pay all monies due and owing to Oli and/or the Estate in respect of the Recordings and Compositions to Defendants."
Oli Herbert died in 2018 at 44 years old.
