Diva songstress Rihanna will have to personally meet with a court mediator if she wants to settle the lawsuit she filed against her ex-accountants.
Manhattan federal Judge Kevin Castel issued the ultimatum to the singer’s lawyers last week after it was revealed in court that both sides want to settle the case — but Rihanna would rather delegate a rep to sit in for her on the sessions.
The pop star has already repeatedly tried to dodge face time in the case.
“[Rihanna] was not there at our first attempt at mediation, and it was a disaster,” noted Peter Larkin, a lawyer for the Manhattan-based accounting firm Berdon LLP, which the singer is suing.
A fired-up Castel shot down a suggestion by Rihanna’s lawyers to send a “delegate” in her place as long as the diva is available by phone in needed.
The judge also said he won’t tolerate the singer missing court appearances if the case goes to trial — or then deciding it’s best to settle after determining she’d be giving up too much of her precious time in court.
“I won’t be receptive to any delay in the schedule because of an 11-hour epiphany on mediation,” he said.
As The Post previously reported, Berdon’s lawyers have accused the “Diamonds” singer of sending them on a “wild goose chase” across the globe to take depositions — only to have her repeatedly cancel at the last minute.
Those instances included a June date in London in which she claimed she was ill — but had been up until the wee hours watching LeBron James and the Miami Heat win the NBA Championship and then tweeted about it.
Rihanna’s suit claims that it was negligence by Berdon that prompted a costly IRS audit of her returns from 2008 through 2010.
She alleges that Berdon — which she fired in 2010 — also defrauded her and her Tourihanna company out of untold tens of millions of dollars in lost revenues and profits, siphoning off an annual 23 percent of her gross income.
Rihanna blames the firm for her disastrous purchase of a $6.9 million Beverly Hills mansion in 2009, too.
She says since-retired Berdon accountant Michael Mitnick told her it “would be a good investment.’’ The mansion wound up being plagued by mold, leaks and other issues, and she was forced to sell the place at a huge loss two years later, taking in only $4.4 million, her lawyers said.