Sidestepping a trial that was to get underway this week, Motley Crue has reached a confidential settlement with a black security guard who claimed that Tommy Lee [ tickets ], Nikki Sixx [ tickets ] and other band members used racial slurs and encouraged fans to attack him during a 1997 concert.

John Allen, a security guard at the concert at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., was seeking $75,000 in damages for claims including verbal assault, battery and infliction of mental distress. Allen's attorney told the Greensboro News and Record of the settlement late last week.

Allen's suit alleged that Sixx shouted obscenities and racial slurs at him, then kicked him, spit at him and told the lighting crew to shine the spotlight on him while encouraging the audience to participate in the harassment, according to the Greensboro News and Record. The suit also says that Lee poured a cup of beer on Allen's head.

After the show, bandmembers claimed they were provoked when they saw the security guard roughing up some fans.

Last month, Motley Crue bassist Sixx was handed a 30-day suspended jail sentence in connection with the case and was placed on probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of inciting a riot and assault on a security guard. Lee, who is no longer playing with Motley Crue, agreed to a similar plea arrangement shortly after Sixx was sentenced.