Rod Stewart's South American Suit

Rod Stewart is facing the music in a Los Angeles courtroom this week.

A trio of concert promoters have dragged the popster into court over a scuttled 2002 concert tour of Central and South America.

The promoters are suing the rocker for keeping a $780,000 advance and is also seeking to recoup the profits it would have made from the concerts. Stewart countersued, saying that despite the cancellation, he should have been paid $2.1 million per an agreement with promoters.

The 59-year-old singer, who was on hand Friday for jury selection, did not attend opening arguments Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

If he had been around, he would have heard Dennis Holahan, the promoters' attorney, declare that Team Stewart is operating out of "greed and arrogance," calling the rocker and his reps a bunch of "bullies."

"If you want to pick on someone," Holahan said of Stewart's legal eagles, according to City News Service, "pick on someone your own size."

According to the contract at the heart of the dispute, Stewart was to be paid a partial advance for nine concerts in Central and South America that were to begin in February of 2002.

Holahan admitted that one of the promoters, Howard Pollack of the Oklahoma-based PM Group Inc., had agreed to pay Stewart half a $2.1 million advance by Jan. 2, 2002, but missed the deadline. Holahan told jurors that promoters and managers usually are "more flexible" when it comes to payment schedules. (They eventualy paid the first half of the advance a few days later.)

For their part, Stewart's reps insisted Monday that the singer should be able to keep the money already received and the balance of the advance due to Pollack's alleged incompetence.

Skip Miller, who is repping Stewart in the court fight, said Pollack never officially signed a contract, instead just sending an email agreement with a promise of "guaranteed compensation."

Further, the attorney said, the promoter never kept them abreast of problems PM encountered in South America (Pollack and PM claim they had problems raising funds due to the collapse of the Argentine economy in late 2001 and needed to bring aboard the other two promoters, one from Argentina and one from Peru, to help out with the tour).

"We never heard the real story that was going on," Miller said. "Pollack was so desperate to raise money...he was selling tickets for a concert that he didn't know was going to happen or not.

"That's not the way Rod Stewart and his people do business."

Miller said that Stewart's camp decided to bag the tour on Jan. 15, 2002, after the singer "lost confidence" in Pollack.

But Holahan shot back, saying, "You shouldn't keep money that doesn't belong to you."

"Rod Stewart never sang a note," Holahan continued, "This is a dispute about greed and arrogance."

Miller said that Stewart should indeed pocket the money because he tied up his schedule by committing to the tour. "The primary source of revenue [for Stewart] is concert tours," Miller said.

While Stewart's primary source of revenue may be concert tours, he's no slouch when it comes to album sales.

The "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" singer's new record, Stardust...The Great American Songbook Volume III, debuted in the top spot on Billboard's Hot 200 album chart this week. The disc sold more than 240,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

And despite the court fight, Stewart isn't exactly hurting for cash. The rocker attended the all-star Carousel of Hope benefit in Los Angeles Saturday and paid $70,000 for one of Jay Leno's Mercedes-Benz SLK Roadsters. "What am I going to do with another car?" Stewart griped to USA Today, adding that he plans on giving the new car away. "I'm a Ferrari man."

The case continues Tuesday. The Ferrari man is expected to testify later this week.