Bret Michaels sues CBS, Tonys over on-stage mishap

Bret Michaels, rock and roll singer and Celebrity Apprentice TV show personality, sings the national anthem before the start of the Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Homestead, Florida November 21, 2010.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A lawsuit against CBS and Tony Award Productions claims that producers are to blame for rocker Bret Michaels' 2009 on-stage injury because they failed to tell him how to exit the stage safely.

The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, states that Michaels specifically asked producers if they had any instructions about where he should or should not stand during any portion of his performance. They told him he should simply exit from the stage rear after he was done, according to the documents.

During the opening number on telecast, Michaels suffered a fractured nose and split lip after he was hit by a large sign descending from the ceiling following Poison's performance of "Nothin' But a Good Time" with the "Rock of Ages" cast.

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."

Six months after the accident, Michaels suffered a near fatal subarachnoid hemorrhage -- bleeding beneath the thin tissue covering the brain -- "at the hands of the Tony Awards," the lawsuit claims.

"Through his sheer will to live, Michaels was able to survive this trauma," the suit reads.

Michaels alleges producers have "failed and refused" to remedy the situation and even blamed him for the accident, claiming he "missed his mark."

He is seeking unspecified damages.

A rep for the Tonys or CBS has yet to comment.