Michael Jackson Lawyers Quit, Again

For the second time in a year, a law firm representing Michael Jackson has quit, saying it hasn't been paid and can't get the pop star on the phone.

A federal judge in Manhattan on Monday gave attorneys at Wachtel & Masyr permission to withdraw from a case in which a financial company claims the singer owes it $48 million.

In a letter to the judge, attorney William Wachtel described his trouble communicating with Jackson through a series of representatives. Over months, Wachtel said, he dealt with the singer through one intermediary after another, only to be informed repeatedly that they were quitting or had been fired.

The last straw came, he said, when J...