• 29
  • March
    2011

Bret Michaels, former front man for the rock band Poison and star of reality TV, is suing the producers of the Tony Awards and CBS for a traumatic brain injury he sustained during a performance at the 2009 awards. A prop fell and struck Michaels in the head during the show, and the rocker claims that both Tony Award Productions and CBS have failed to resolve the situation.

According to the lawsuit, Michaels' brain injury wasn't obvious immediately after the accident. Six months later, however, he was rushed to intensive care when he experienced an extremely severe headache. Doctors discovered bleeding at the base of his brain stem -- a diagnosis of subarachnoid brain hemorrhage.

"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," reads the lawsuit.

Michaels spent ten days in intensive care and weeks in outpatient therapy recuperating from the hemorrhage. Many people may remember that Michaels' condition caused an interruption in the taping of last year's "Celebrity Apprentice," which he won.

"Through his sheer will to live, to see his children grow up, [he] was able to survive this trauma," adds the lawsuit.

The producers and CBS have denied any responsibility for Michaels' injury during the awards show, saying that the prop hit him because he had missed his mark and was standing in the wrong place. They are also likely to deny that the prop accident is the cause of Michaels' brain injury, as it occurred six months after the event.

Michaels filed the negligence lawsuit on Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Source: MyFoxLA.com, "Bret Michaels Sues Tony Awards Over Injury," March 25, 2011