Francis was due to face up to a civil suit filed by four Florida women who allege the sex movie boss filmed them while they were underage, but opted out of appearing in court after falling deathly ill during a trip to Mexico.

The embattled adult filmmaker was scheduled to appear before a judge in Panama City, Florida but his attorney provided a doctor’s note and explained the Francis is in a Mexican hospital, fighting off an ear infection and a high fever.

The lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal troubles for Joe Francis, who was slammed with a multimillion tax invasion lawsuit from the Internal Revenue Service last week.

The IRS wants some serious money from the sleaze, filing a lien against him for a staggering $33,819,087.14 in unpaid taxes from 2001, 2002 and 2003. For his part, Joe has decided to go with the “I Have No Idea” defense. The Girls Gone Wild founder insists he’s forked over the dough he allegedly owes the U.S. government and cannot fathom why he’s being sued.

“I have no idea what it is,” Joe told TMZ.com Wednesday. “This is total retaliation for me beating them in court.”

The new tax mess comes just two weeks after the soft-porn king agreed to a plea deal to escape jail time in a federal tax evasion case. Joe claims that federal officials have taken more than $100 million in cash accounts, forcing him to file for bankruptcy.

Joe, who has been cleared by police of all charges in connection with the brawl, claims he was in fear for life after the 115-pound brunette threatened to kill him.

Of course, we all know how scary those nude models can be…..

The fight occurred after Jayde threw a drink in Joe’s face after reportedy seeing him harassing his ex-girlfriend, who is a friend of hers.

In the video footage posted on RadarOnline, a man alleged to be Joe is seen grabbing Jayde by the hair and pulling her to the ground and dragging her through the bar.

“He can’t lie anymore!” Jayde Nicole told Radar. “It makes me absolutely cringe.”

Brody — who recently underwent surgery to have his appendix removed — tells TMZ.com that he and Jade were having a belated 26th birthday bash at Guys & Dolls when the former Playmate tossed a drink on Francis, who she believes has been stalking one of her friends.

How old are these people again?

Subsequently, Joe is accused of pulling a Chris Brown and throwing Jade to the ground, “punching and kicking her.” (Wow — a pornographer who doesn’t respect women? This is truly shocking!) Jayde claims she suffered facial swelling and bruising and sore lower abdomen as a result of Joe’s alleged assault. She also says some of her hair was pulled out in the fight. The model plans to file charges against Francis.

But the fun didn’t stop there.

Joe Francis then followed Brody out of the club and punched him in the face. The reality star was then shot with a taser gun by an unknown assiliant.

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the incident.

Bravo reality star Kim Zolciak has a new “Big Poppa.” We hear The Real Housewives of Atlanta troublemaker has started dating Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis.

It’s hard out here for a perv! In a tough econonmy, X-rated aficionados have less cash to fork over on a monthly membership to 8thStreetLatinas.com.

Adult entertainment moguls Larry Flynt (Hustler) and Joe Francis, of Girls Gone Wild fame, are pleading with Congress to grant the adult industry a $5 billion bailout, after DVD sales plummeted in the last 12 months due to the global recession.

“With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It’s time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America,” the Hustler founder said Wednesday.

The porn bosses say they will state their case during an upcoming trip Washington D.C. Francis and Flynt hope to make government officials understand that adult entertainment is an intricate part of the U.S. economy. He tells TMZ.com, “Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration.”

Corrie Loftin, a featured finalist on the MTV reality series Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, offered a topless performance for Girls Gone Wild (GGW) cameras before becoming a contestant on the MTV reality series, GGW’s sleazeball founder, Joe Francis, confirmed on Monday.

Producers for the adult-themed video series met the 22-year-old Texas native at a club in Dallas, Texas during a nationwide search for “The Hottest Girl in America” last year.

Corrie’s footage will be featured on Girls Gone Wild’s upcoming video, Hollywood Gone Wild, available on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc this Winter.

Watch Corrie’s Girls Gone Wild Video Here

Joe Francis won’t be clawing his way up the reality TV corporate ladder after all. Francis has been kicked off the cast for the second season of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice. Joe was ousted from the show after NBC executives determined the recently-incarcerated Girls Gone Wild founder’s image wasn’t wholesome enough for network television. Drunk girls removing their tops for Mardi Gras beads-what could be more All-American than that?

“Donald Trump and I decided to do a different show. I would have added a lot to ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ and I would have been excited to do it, but I’m more excited by this other idea,” Joe told the New York Post on Monday.

Joe Francis, founder and CEO of the Girls Gone Wild empire, filed a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, alleging that a federal judge worked with opposing attorneys to coerce him into signing a 2007 settlement agreement with the families of three underage girls who were illegally featured baring their breasts in an edition of GGW.

Joe says he was under disrest when he agreed to pay the families off and they should have received nothing. (This pig has more tricks up his sleeve than a magician.)

“Panama City officials began their persecution of Joe Francis with open deception, continued with perjury, and concluded with illegal imprisonment,” says Robert E. Barnes, legal counsel for Francis. “That may be what counts for justice in Panama City, but it’s not American justice.”

Joe “had no choice but to enter into the settlement in order to avoid further incarceration,” according to the legal papers. The adult-themed DVD extraordinaire insists he only agreed to settle the civil suit after U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak jailed him for contempt of court.

Joe is convinced Judge Smoak sided with former law partners to arrest Francis and force him to offer the girls a settlement. An attorney from a law firm where Smoak was once a partner represented the girls and their parents.

Joe has asked supporters on his Web site to write letters to Congress seeking Smoak’s impeachment.

Joe refused to reveal just how well the girls made out, but says the settlement has cost him “a fortune.”

The smut king wants the court system to vacate the settlement agreement and order the girls’ parents to return his payout.

Do you think Joe has a case?