Sheik, Lawyers Whack Jackson

Wed., Aug. 15, 2007 2:07 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

For Michael Jackson, it's been one of those good news, bad news kind of weeks.

First, the bad news: The comeback-minded King of Pop, whose finances have been a big question mark in recent years, has been targeted in lawsuits by some more high-profile creditors.

Added to the list of Jackson's ever-multiplying litigants are two entities that were formerly entrenched in his camp: the powerful Los Angeles law firm of Lavely & Singer and Prince Abdullah of Bahrain. Both are now suing Jackson for allegedly reneging on various financial obligations.

Jackson's ex-attorneys at Lavely & Singer filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the 48-year-old entertainer in Los Angeles Superior Court for allegedly failing to pay more than $113,000 in legal bills.

Per the suit, Jackson agreed to abide by an arbitration decision to pay the legal eagles $180,000 in three installments. But when the check for the final $113,750 failed to arrive by the July 31 deadline, the firm was forced to take it to the courts.

Lavely & Singer's complaint comes a little less than a month after a judge ordered the faded superstar to pony up approximately $256,000 in legal bills to another law firm for services provided during his highly publicized child-molestation trial in 2005.

Then there's his former benefactor, Prince Abdullah, the Arab sheik who played host to the Gloved One and his three children at his palatial residence in the Persian Gulf country after Jackson's acquittal on the molestation charges.

Abdullah (whose full name is Sheik Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa) provided Jackson with a lavish living space, food and chauffeur. In return, the singer purportedly agreed to launch a label with the sheik, Two Seas Record, to release Jackson's long-awaited Hurricane Katrina benefit single and a comeback album, neither of which has materialized.

Abdullah's suit, which, per Fox News, was filed in London, wants Jackson to live up to his promise to make the record so the billionaire can purportedly make back the millions he put into wooing the entertainer.

Jackson's rep, Raymone Bain, was unavailable to comment on the suits. Jackson was last seen house-shopping around the Chesapeake Bay.

Meanwhile, Jackson got some welcome good news in another courtroom.

A London woman who insists she's the mother of Jackson's three children lost a bid in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday to butt into his ongoing custody battle with ex-wife Deborah Rowe.

Judge Robert A. Schnider rejected a petition filed by Nona Paris Lola Jackson that sought joint physical custody of 10-year-old Prince Michael, 9-year-old Paris and 5-year-old Prince Michael II, otherwise known as "Blanket."

"I feel her evidence fails to establish any genetic relationship between herself and the Jackson-Rowe children," the judge said, citing "substantial evidence" that indicates the kids were born in the U.S. and not in England, as the plaintiff has asserted.

This is the fourth such claim by Nona Jackson to get tossed by the L.A. courts.

Schnider also dismissed Nona Jackson's request to nullify the music legend's past marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Rowe.

Jackson and Rowe, who divorced in 1999, did not attend the proceedings and were represented by their respective attorneys.

Rowe's lawyer, Marta B. Almli, said she hoped the judge's rulings would persuade Nona Jackson, who participated via phone, to stop interfering in the case but acknowledged "it's possible she could always do something else."