Okay so I decided to start this thread noting the similar circumstances between the firing of Don Felder and Steven Adler from the Eagles and Guns N Roses respectively. The main topic being were they LEGAL?
I will start with Steven Adler.
Background and Firing
The drummer for the band on Appetite For Destruction(and contrary to popular belief not the original drummer that was Rob Gardner.) After the successful Appetite For Destruction Tour in 1988-1989 Adler became heavily addicted to drugs and heroin which became so unstable that he could not perform and caused problems in the studio specifically with the song Civil War on which the drum track was reportedly edited from over 60 different takes and the song was the last he would ever record with the band, the song was released as the opening track to Use Your Illusion 2. His last performance with the band was on April 7th 1990 at Farm Aid 4 and was fired on July 11th 1990.
Lawsuit and Aftermath
In July of 1991 Steven Adler filled a lawsuit against Guns N Roses claiming unlawful termination and breach of contract. (Here is a video of Axl testifying against Adler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vrmv8huVUw)
In his lawsuit he claimed that while he was in rehab the drugs he was prescribed "interfered with his "concentration" he also claimed that a contract was signed that he gave away his royalties. (Later the rest of the band members claimed to have been forced to sign a document by Axl giving him the right to the name which you can find here http://gnrtruth.proboards.com/thread...tweets?page=97 you have to scroll down to the 5th post to find it)
Adler won the lawsuit(GNR reportedly had bad lawyers)and was paid $2 million dollars and 15% of royalties to everything he recorded up until his firing. However Adler has never badmouthed his band mates "intentionally" and is strongly rumored to make a few guest appearances with the band after he recovers from a reported back surgery.
Now on to Felder
Background and Firing
Felder joined the Eagles in 1974 and was "reportedly" made a full partner in the bands corporation Eagles LTD. Before the reunion in 1994 Don "claimed" to have been forced into an agreement that essentially made the 74 agreement null and void and made him a "hired hand". Forced to take it or not be a part of the band Felder took it and the band went on tour from 1994 to 1996. After the tour Felder reportedly became increasingly unhappy
with the new agreement and because he stuck to the null and void 1974 agreement kept sending letters to Glenn and Don(Henley) requesting to examine the financial documents of the band. Eventually rumors began to spring up that Felder was causing problems in the studio. His last performance with the band was on December 31st 1999 and was fired on February 6th 2001.
Lawsuit and Aftermath
After being fired Felder fired a lawsuit against "Eagles, Ltd., a California corporation; Don Henley, an individual; Glenn Frey, an individual; and Does 1–50", alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and breach of fiduciary duty,.
The case was settled out of court with the agreements not being disclosed to the public. Don now tours with his own band.
Similarities between the two cases and were they fired legally?
Both Felder and Steven Adler sued their respective bands claiming as a partner in the cooperation they could not be fired. However in Felder's case we do not know Henley and Glenn's side but if they went and agreed to let him go (Felder claims that Joe and Tim are not partners) together the majority has a vote. This is EXACTLY what happened to Adler the band at the time Axl,Izzy,Slash and Duff Mckagan were sick of his abuse and not being able to work voted him out and he was let go because they had the majority vote. So in closing they were fired legally as the majority ( Glenn and Don H and the rest of GNR) had more power so they could legally fire them and since they signed a document giving away their respected shares in a cooperation gave the rest of the partners the authority to get rid of them.
What do you think?