Mastodon has filed a response to a lawsuit brought by the estate of its late guitarist Brent Hinds.
Band members Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher and Troy Sanders urged an Atlanta judge on Monday to dismiss some of the legal claims brought by Hinds’ father, Billboard reports.
The guitarist died in a motorcycle crash in August 2025, a few months after Mastodon announced he’d be ending his 25-year run with the band.
Hinds’ family is suing to cash out his 25 per cent stake in the band’s operations, arguing that the $80,000 (£60,000) they received after his death was too little.
The band members want the court to dismiss certain claims that “fail as a matter of law”.
“His contributions to the band’s legacy are undeniable, and his death was a profound loss. None of that is in dispute,” reads the court filing. “But honouring Hinds’ legacy does not require rewriting the agreements governing his business interests or imposing obligations on his former bandmates that Georgia law does not recognise.”
Hinds was 51 when he died in Atlanta in August last year. At the time, he had been in the middle of negotiating the terms of his exit from Mastodon.
“They kicked me out,” Hinds wrote in an Instagram comment a week before his death.
The co-founder of the heavy-metal band was killed when his Harley-Davidson collided with a car that failed to yield at an intersection. Hinds was found “unresponsive” at the scene.
The Blood and Thunder musicians expressed their grief on social media at the time.
“We are heartbroken, shocked, and still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many,” the statement read.
