All That Remains File Lawsuit Against Late Guitarist’s Widow For Allegedly Blocking Their Royalties

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As reported by Blabbermouth, metalcore act All That Remains has filed a lawsuit against the widow of their late guitarist Oliver “Oli” Herbert.

This lawsuit was filed on January 6th in United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

The band claims that Oli’s wife, Elizabeth Herbert, is holding up royalty payments that should be going to the surviving members of All That Remains; they also claim that she is making some broad ownership claims pertaining to some of the band’s most popular tracks.

In the lawsuit (which Blabbermouth was able to obtain), Herbet claims that All That Remains members Michael Martin (guitarist), Phil Labonte (singer), and Jason Costa (drummer), “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.”

The lawsuit also mentions a Facebook post of Herberts, where she claimed she was “a co-owner of the Band’s ‘entire catalog’.”

Also a part of this whole matter is Concord Music; Concord Music handles the band’s royalties, and Herbert has allegedly “asserted various claims” against them.

Within the lawsuit, the three All That Remains members claim 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 $$S owed to the Estate.'”

Concord Music is named a “nominal defendant” in the lawsuit.

Due to all this back and forth between the All That Remains members and Herbert and Oli’s estate, Concord Music (per the lawsuit), “initially advised Plaintiffs that it refused to pay the Band any royalties until such time as the dispute is resolved.”

The lawsuit also shares the following:

“Concord Music ultimately agreed, as an accommodation, to pay the royalties due for the period ending December 31, 2021 to the Band, provided that the Band agreed to hold Oli’s percentage interest in such monies in escrow. In early October 2022, the Band received another royalty statement from Concord Music for the semi-annual accounting period ending June 30, 2022, but did not initially receive payment of any royalties despite such statement reflecting that royalties were due.

“After some discussion, Concord Music again agreed, as an accommodation, to pay the royalties due for the period ending June 30, 2022 to the Band provided the Band agreed to hold Oli’s percentage interest in such monies in escrow.

“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 three surviving All That Remains members say they “have held, and continue to hold, Oli’s share of the Band’s royalties for the periods ending December 31, 2021 and June 30, 2022 in escrow and are ready, able and willing to pay such monies to the Estate.

“Given the circumstances, and to provide the Estate greater security that it would be paid timely and accurately, Plaintiffs have sought to arrange for Defendants to receive direct payment of Oli’s royalties from Concord Music, rather than having the money flow through the Band’s accounts and have the Band account to the Estate.

“In order to effectuate direct payment of Oli’s royalties to the Estate, and as is customary in the music industry, on or about May 24, 2022, the Band asked Ms. Herbert to execute a letter of direction to Concord Music effective as of April 25, 2022 identifying Ms. Herbert and/or the Estate as the new payee for Oli’s share of the Band’s record royalties and music publishing royalties from the Recordings and Compositions, respectively. Ms. Herbert refused to sign the proposed letter of direction.”

The lawsuit also mentions that Herbert advised the surviving All That Remains members that “she would not sign the proposed revised letter of direction and stated that she ‘cannot in good faith sign anything presented to me without a judge overseeing the process.'”

Among the requests coming from the All That Remains guys, they are asking the court to declare that “Oli and/or the Estate has a 27% interest in each of the” All That Remains recordings involved in this matter, and that Oli’s estate “must execute the requested letter of direction to Concord Music in order to conclusively and finally resolve any withholding of royalties to the Plaintiffs by Concord Music”.

The band is also asking the court to order Concord Music “pay all monies due and owing to Plaintiffs in respect of record and/or music publishing monies to Plaintiffs,” as well as “pay all monies due and owing to Oli and/or the Estate in respect of the Recordings and Compositions to Defendants.”

Keep a look out for updates as more on this story develops.

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