Nancy McCallum, the mother of late Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley, has filed a lawsuit against the band, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. McCallum claims that the surviving members of the band owe her half of the money that would have gone to her son in royalties, which comes out to about 16 percent of the group's total income, and that the band has attempted to stop any further payments to her.

According to McCallum's lawsuit, an attorney for the band told her in September 2012 that Staley's interest in Alice in Chains' works was being liquidated and that the revenue sharing agreement that had seen her paid over the past decade was being terminated. Yet McCallum wants a court to establish her right to 16 percent of the band's income as well as any of her son's assets controlled by his former bandmates.

Alice In Chains has yet to officially respond to McCallum's suit, which was filed on May 2nd in in King County Superior Court.

Lawyers for Alice In Chains claim that McCallum illegally tried to trademark the band's name and has already been paid more than she's due. The group also states that the singer's heirs will continue to collect royalties on songs he wrote or co-wrote, although McCallum no longer has a role in any business decisions.

McCallum alleges that she is now receiving a smaller portion of royalties than she had been getting beforehand.

Staley died at the age of 34 in April 2002 from a drug overdose, after a years-long period of withdrawal from public life that effectively forced Alice In Chains into retirement for the better part of a decade.

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