BREAKING: Bret Michaels Settles 2009 Tony Awards Lawsuit

USA Today reports this morning that Bret Michaels has, at long last, settled his 2009 lawsuit against the Tony Awards after sustaining head injuries following a set collapse during the televised broadcast. 

In what has been a 3 year ordeal, most recently in February of this year, Weingarten Brown LLP announced in a statement that "defendants CBS Broadcasting, Inc., Tony Awards Productions, White Cherry Entertainment, Inc. and others involved in producing the 2009 Tony Awards, where Rock Star Bret Michaels sustained life-threatening head injuries, filed a Third Party Complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against third-party Rock of Ages Broadway LLC."

Their statement detailing Michaels injuries by Michael's attorney Alex Weingarten read: "Michaels was leaving the stage after performing with the Rock of Ages cast when a set piece was lowered, striking him on the head, throwing him to the ground, and resulting in a near-fatal brain hemorrhage."

Alex Weingarten also commented in response to this countersuit: "This is a desperate act. The producers of the Tony Awards and their co-defendants cannot credibly deny that they almost killed Bret while he was performing with the cast of Rock of Ages, so instead they are trying to point the finger elsewhere...CBS and the rest of the defendants are just grasping at straws. It was their negligence that injured Bret, and it was then their decision to try to profit from his injuries by joking about them and playing them for ratings. We did not drag Rock of Ages into this, and Bret has nothing but the utmost respect for them, their production and the performers who were on stage and in harm’s way with him that night.”

Details of a settlement have not yet been released, however, USA Today reports that "Representatives for CBS and the Tonys released a joint statement saying that 'an amicable resolution'" had been reached.

Weingarten also notes that "After the injury, Michaels’ repeatedly attempted to resolve the matter amicably and out-of-court in an effort to avoid adding to the already substantial publicity surrounding the accident."

BroadwayWorld will keep you updated as more details are released!

More Articles by This Author...