BRET MICHAELS Settles Lawsuit Over 2009 Tony Awards Mishap

Oraganizers of Tony Awards have settled a lawsuit filed by POISON singer Bret Michaels over a mishap that occurred during a production number featuring the "Rock Of Ages" cast, which resulted in a head injury for Michaels. The terms of the settlement will not be made public.

"Mr. Michaels would like to thank his fans for their continued support," Bret's attorney, Alex Weingarten, said of the settlement.

A copy of Michaels' March 2011 lawsuit can be viewed as a PDF file at this location.

The suit, originally filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, states that Michaels was told by the producers that he should simply exit from the stage rear after he was done with his performance. The suit states that Michaels was never told the scenery piece would be descending or given "any warning of the existence of the dangers it presented."

According to the lawsuit, Bret nearly died in April 2010 from a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, which he believed was caused by the injuries he suffered at the Tony Awards. In his suit, Michaels claims, "One of the most common causes of this type of hemorrhage is head trauma — exactly like the one Michaels suffered at the hands of the Tony Awards." Michaels notes, "Through his sheer will to live, to see his children grow up, [he] was able to survive this trauma."

Shortly after the Tony Awards incident, Tonys spokeswoman Christina Stejskal said the rocker "missed his mark," which resulted in him failing to get back to the stage in time (as did the rest of POISON) and trying to jump up, only to have a descending set piece smack him on the head and knock him to the ground.

Back in June 2009, Michaels told People.com that he had no plans to file a lawsuit over the Tony Awards incident, insisting, "I want to make very clear to everybody that — first and foremost — I was honored to be asked to be at the Tonys. I'd never done it before and in all my life it's not something I thought I'd be on. I was really excited. There's no lawsuit. I'm not doing any of that. I'm taking the high road."

Michaels' neurologist Dr. Joseph Zabramski held a press conference for reporters in May 2010 and responded to speculation that the POISON frontman's brain hemorrhage could be related to his onstage injury at the Tony Awards. "I do not believe that that [a connection between the brain hemorrhage and the Tony Awards injury] is a possibility at all," said Zabramski. The doctor added that far too much time had passed for the incidents to be related. "A hit in the head can cause a subacute hemorrhage, but it causes it immediately," Zabramski explained. "If that had caused a problem that led to this hemorrhage, we would have seen a problem with his blood vessels."