Jackson settles out of court with Bahrain prince

Michael Jackson has once again reached an 11th-hour settlement, this time one that saved him from appearing in a British court on Monday.

A spokeswoman for the troubled pop singer announced on Sunday that his lawyers broached a settlement with counterparts representing Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

Neither Jackson, nor Al Khalifa — second son of Bahrain's king — appeared in court Monday in London for the hearing in Al Khalifa's breach-of-contract lawsuit.

Last week, proceedings began in the Bahrain prince's British High Court suit against the singer.

Jackson lived in Bahrain following his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges in California. In Al Khalifa's suit, he claimed that Jackson had agreed to pursue a joint entertainment venture that was to include a new album, a stage show and a candid autobiography.

The prince said Jackson had accepted millions of dollars in financial aid and payment for a lavish, lengthy stay in the small Gulf state, before eventually reneging on the contract in 2006.

Jackson's lawyers, however, had argued that the venture never got off the ground and that his client took the payments as gifts.

Al Khalifa, who had initially sued for more than $8 million Cdn, said through a lawyer that details of the out-of-court settlement are to remain private.

Since his acquittal in the 2005 child molestation case, Jackson has been embroiled in a host of legal disputes that revealed his troubled financial state.