AEG vs Jacksons (articles, reports, tabloids)

Michael Jackson's ex-wife up next in death trial


Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe is set to testify in the AEG Live wrongful death trial Wednesday, lawyers for the concert promoter said Monday.
Rowe is expected to be questioned about Jackson's drug use during the 1990s when she traveled with him, married him and bore his two oldest children.

She will be called as the next witness in the Los Angeles courtroom after an economics expert concludes his testimony about the financial support Jackson would have provided his mother and three children had he not died four years ago.
Jackson's youngest brother made an unsuccessful effort to reach the singer in his last weeks because of family concerns about his drug use, according to testimony Friday.

Lawyers for the concert promoter accused of liability in Jackson's death want to show that the pop icon was a secretive drug addict who was even beyond his family's help.
Jurors watched video of Randy Jackson's questioning by the AEG Live lawyers about failed interventions he led because of his concerns about Michael Jackson's use of painkillers in the last decade of his brother's life.

Jackson died from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol that a doctor told police he was using to treat his insomnia as he rehearsed for a comeback tour four years ago. Jackson's mother and three children are suing the concert promoter, contending it negligently hired, retained or supervised the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in his death.

Mysterious celebrity deaths Mysterious celebrity deaths
Randy Jackson testified that he and his father, Joe Jackson, were turned away from the gates of Jackson's rented Los Angeles mansion on Carolwood Drive, the home in which he died weeks later. They were concerned because of "reports to me that he didn't look too good," he said.

Who is Debbie Rowe?
"After I had heard this, I said, 'Come on, let's go. We're going over there,' " he testified.
Other witnesses, including Jackson's makeup artist and the show director, have testified that Jackson suffered physical deterioration in the last two months of his life.
"There was a drug issue," Randy Jackson said, explaining why they wanted to reach him. "He wasn't eating. All of these things were happening at the same and, you know, a lot of pressure."

He said he wanted to persuade his brother to leave rehearsals and enter a drug rehab program in San Francisco.
"Of course my brother wouldn't let me through because he wouldn't want me to see him like that," he said. The security guard told him his brother was not at home, he said.
Jackson lawyers do not dispute that Michael Jackson had a drug dependency problem at times, but they say he went long periods of time without taking painkillers. The entertainer publicly acknowledged his dependency when he cut short his Dangerous tour to enter a rehab program in 1993.

The drug use was connected to two decades of pain stemming from scalp burns suffered while filming a Pepsi commercial and several onstage accidents on tour, they say. He also used prescription sedatives to help him sleep, especially during the pressure of touring, they argue.

The pressure was on again as Jackson prepared for his "This Is It" concerts set to debut in London in July 2009, they say. Jackson was getting nightly infusions of propofol in a desperate effort to cure his insomnia, which a sleep expert testified disrupted his natural sleep cycles and caused his physical and mental decline.

AEG Live executives created an ethical conflict of interest by hiring Dr. Conrad Murray as Jackson's full-time physician for $150,000 a month, the Jackson lawsuit contends. Murray could not refuse Jackson's demands for propofol infusions since he was deeply in debt and could not risk being fired from the lucrative job, they argue.

Jury applauds witness in trial
AEG Live lawyers say it was Jackson who chose and controlled Murray, not the company, and they had no way of knowing about the dangerous treatments he was giving the singer in the privacy of his bedroom.

While Randy Jackson was questioned for several hours by AEG Live lawyers, only about an hour of the video was shown to jurors Friday. Most of it focused on his repeated attempts to interrupt his brother's use of painkillers.

"I wrote letters to my family about his problem and that we had to do something to help," Randy Jackson testified. The letters would tell his parents, brothers and sisters that 'he's an addict,' and at this point, addicts aren't so responsible for what they do. So this is where the family needs to step in and do something about it because their desire becomes physical."
Jackson testified that he "staged several interventions," including in Taiwan, New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

"Four or five" of those attempted interventions were at Jackson's Neverland Ranch between 2004 and 2006 -- around the time of the child abuse trial in Santa Barbara County, California, he said.

MJ's 'pajama day' in court
Randy Jackson said he was able to get his brother off of drugs at one point, but he resumed just before the child molestation trial began in a Santa Maria, California, courtroom in 2004. "He was really scared."

He fired Jackson nanny Grace Rwaramba because he suspected she was supplying his drugs, he said. "Whenever she's around, he's wasted."

He asked older sister Rebbie Jackson to stay close to their brother, he said, telling her, "Make sure you watch everything he does, because I have to get him in this courtroom every day and see this thing through."

Randy Jackson gave new insight into what happened that infamous day of the trial when Michael Jackson showed up late for court wearing pajamas. At the time, the singer blamed a back injury suffered when he fell in the shower, which sent him to a hospital that morning.

Ex-bodyguard testifies about singer's drug use
His brother testified, however, it was "because he didn't want to go to court."

"I went to the hospital and he said to me, he says, 'I don't know what you're thinking. I'm not walking into that courtroom, so don't even think about it, Randy,' " he testified. "And I said, 'OK.' I said, 'But you're going to court.' He goes, 'No, I'm not.' "
Randy Jackson blamed the nanny for supplying "some kind of patch" that had drugs.

Jackson also described an incident in which his brother had a bad reaction to a sedative while at a Beverly Hills home in 2005. The nanny called him, saying, "You need to get over here. Something's not right," he testified. A doctor who lived nearby paid a house call and treated him, he said.

He said his brother would "kind of hide from me" because he didn't want him to know about his drug use, Jackson said.
Monday is the start of the 16th week of testimony in the trial, which the judge told jurors could last until the end of September.


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DEBBIE ROWE TO TESTIFY
MJ ABUSED PROPOFOL
12 Years Before Death


Michael Jackson was not only addicted to powerful drugs 12 years before he died ... at least twice in the late 90s doctors misused a drug similar to Propofol so MJ could sleep through the night ... and we've learned that's exactly what MJ's former wife Debbie Rowe will tell the jury today.

Sources familiar with Debbie Rowe's testimony tell TMZ ... Rowe -- who will be called to the stand by AEG Live -- views herself as a hostile witness, because she feels AEG is largely responsible for MJ's death.

We've learned Rowe will testify ... in 1997 doctors administered Diprivan (a form of Propofol) to Michael in a Munich, Germany hotel room. We're told Rowe will say the drug was administered specifically so Michael could sleep. There was a full medical staff present and MJ slept under the influence of the drug for 8 hours. This occurred on 2 days, either consecutive or 1 day apart.

The testimony is significant because AEG is trying to show MJ was the master of his own fate and had misused Propofol for years.

But we've learned Rowe will also say while she was married to MJ she never saw him as a raging drug addict. She will testify he was addicted to Demerol ... which he used to deal with the pain and anxiety from scalp surgeries after being horribly burned. She says when she left Michael in July, 1997, he was not an out-of-control addict. In fact, he had gone to rehab and was open about it.

As TMZ first reported, Rowe injected Michael in the buttocks with Demerol and Vistaril several times while she worked for Dr. Arnold Klein -- MJ's closest doctor and confidante. Rowe had no idea in the last months of MJ's life Klein injected the singer with Demerol scores of times.

We've learned if asked ... Rowe will say she was horrified when she saw a TMZ video of Michael looking totally out of it as he left Dr. Klein's office days before he died. The day MJ passed, Rowe will testify she called Klein and said, "You killed him. What did you give him?"

We're told Rowe wants to tell the jury ... when the "This Is It" tour was announced and she heard the breakneck concert schedule, she told her shrink, "They're [AEG] gonna kill him."

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Michael Jackson trial: Randy Jackson talks brother's drug abuse


LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jurors on Friday heard from Michael Jackson's brother, Randy Jackson, as the wrongful death trial focused on the pop star's history of drug abuse.

When Michael Jackson was living at Neverland Ranch, he was struggling with prescription medications and was in denial, according to his brother.

"He just said he's fine," Randy Jackson said in a video deposition. When asked if he thought his brother had a problem, he said, "Yes."

Randy Jackson described four intervention efforts at the Santa Barbara home and as many as three others in a New York hotel, Jackson's home in Las Vegas, and in the rented house in the Holmby Hills within months of the star's death.

He stated it was Grace Rwamba, the children's nanny, who called him several times. He described an early intervention attempt where the Neverland gates were open, and he and other siblings walked in.

"I told him I was taking him to rehab. He said he's not going," Randy recalled.

Randy Jackson says the attempts at Neverland Ranch happened between 2000 and 2004. He said on one occasion, he and sister Janet took professional addiction specialists with them.

"I told them that there had been prior attempts getting him help and it wasn't successful," said Randy.

Jurors learned from earlier testimony that Michael Jackson was seeing several doctors during that time period, including a doctor who implanted a device in him to combat the high delivered by opiods.

Randy Jackson said that in 2005, his brother was under the influence of something and collapsed. Randy said he called a doctor who was able to revive him.

The attorneys for Katherine Jackson, who is suing tour promoters at AEG Live, say they do not dispute that Michael Jackson struggled with dependency, but they blame Jackson's death on the AEG tour promoters, who they claim hired Conrad Murray as the singer's physician. AEG says Michael Jackson's history reveals he endangered himself.

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JACKSON'S EX-WIFE TESTIFIES ABOUT HIS FEAR OF PAIN


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's ex-wife broke into tears on Wednesday when she took the witness stand in a civil case and described the singer's fear of pain and reliance on physicians.

Debbie Rowe said the pop star trusted doctors to prescribe pain medication to him, but they sometimes tried to outdo each other while losing sight of Jackson's care.

"Michael had a very low pain tolerance and his fear of pain was incredible," Rowe said. "I think the doctors took advantage of him that way."

She said she was with Jackson when he received treatments from his longtime dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein and from plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Hoefflin.

They would try to out-do each other, with each one prescribing different drugs while trying to persuade Jackson their recommendations were better to manage his pain, she said.

The doctors "were going back and forth the whole time, not caring about him," Rowe told jurors.

Rowe is the mother of the singer's two oldest children, Prince and Paris Jackson. She and the pop star were married from 1996 to 1999. Rowe also worked with Klein beginning in the late 1970s.

Rowe said she told another one of Jackson's doctors, Allan Metzger, that she was concerned that Klein and Hoefflin were giving the singer too many medications.

"The only physician who ever did anything, the only physician who cared for Michael was Allan Metzger," Rowe said, fighting back tears.

Rowe said Metzger arranged for two doctors to give Jackson the anesthetic propofol in Germany in 1997 when he complained that he couldn't sleep during his "HIStory" tour.

On two occasions, the doctors brought medical equipment to Jackson's hotel suite and monitored the singer while he was under the effect of the anesthetic for eight hours. The doctors warned Jackson about the dangers of using propofol, but Rowe said he disregarded the information.

"He was just more worried about not sleeping," she said. Rowe said she would not allow the singer to get similar propofol treatments for sleep issues after the use in Germany.

Jackson died from an overdose of propofol that was administered by another physician in 2009.

Rowe also described efforts to wean Jackson off the painkiller Demerol after he had surgery in 1993 to repair damage to his scalp sustained when he was burned while filming a Pepsi commercial years earlier.

She said Metzger devised a plan to treat Jackson's pain with different medications before he went on a leg of his "Dangerous" tour. Rowe lived with Jackson for three weeks to ensure he stayed on the regimen.

"At that point we were friends," Rowe said. "He wasn't a patient."

She said Jackson knew he couldn't take pain medications forever and needed a strong voice to get him off the drugs. "I'm probably one of the only people who said no to him," Rowe said.

Rowe said the plan to break Jackson's use of Demerol failed when a doctor who accompanied the singer on tour gave him the drug while overseas.

A phone message left at Klein's office was not immediately returned. An email sent to Hoefflin's former practice was returned, stating the plastic surgeon retired five years ago and no longer practiced medicine.

Rowe said Jackson respected doctors immensely because they went to school and vowed to do no harm to patients.

Katherine Jackson claims in her lawsuit that AEG Live failed to properly investigate the doctor later convicted of giving her son an overdose of propofol while he prepared for a series of comeback shows in 2009.

She sat in the front row of the courtroom and leaned forward in her seat during portions of Rowe's testimony.

AEG denies it hired Conrad Murray or bears any responsibility for the singer's death.

Marvin S. Putnam, the company's lead defense attorney, said in opening statements that the case was about Jackson's personal choices and his desire to use propofol as a sleep aid.

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Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe testifies, reveals 21 things

Debbie Rowe, an ex-wife of Michael Jackson and the biological mother of his two oldest children, broke down in tears while testifying at the late King of Pop's wrongful death trial in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 14

Rowe used to work with Arnold Klein, a dermatologist who had treated Jackson. The singer's family is suing AEG Live, a concert promoter that had organized a mini tour for him before his 2009 death.

They claim the company hired Conrad Murray, the doctor who was jailed in 2011 for involuntary manslaughter over Jackson's death. AEG say the singer chose the physician himself and denies any wrongdoing. The company called Rowe to testify at the trial.

Rowe was married to Jackson between 1996 to 1999 and is the mother of their son Prince, 16, and daughter Paris, 17. Jackson's third child, his 11-year-old son Blanket, was born to a surrogate mother.

During her testimony, Rowe talked about Jackson's fear of pain, their first meeting and his medical treatments. Check out 21 things Rowe revealed during her testimony.

What Debbie Rowe revealed about Michael Jackson ...

1. She met Jackson when he arrived for an appointment at Dr. Arnold Klein's office, where she worked as an assistant, in either 1982 or 1984. They then became friends.

"I introduced myself, said, 'Nobody does what you do better, you're amazing. And nobody does what I do better, I'm amazing," Rowe testified, adding that the singer then laughed.

2. Jackson asked Rowe to be present while undergoing medical procedures. She cited several doctors who treated him, including Klein, a plastic surgeon and an internist.

3. She said Jackson was initially treated for acne at Klein's office and was given collagen injections. He was later treated for lupus and vitiligo -- a skin disease.

4. Jackson was not given pain medication during the first few times he received collagen injections. He was prescribed painkillers by another doctor after undergoing what Rowe called "extremely painful" surgery in 1984 to treat burns he suffered while filming a Pepsi commercial.

5. "Michael respected doctors tremendously that they went to school and studied. And meant no harm," Rowe said. "Unfortunately some of the doctors decided when Michael was in pain that they would try to outbid each other on who could give the better drug. So he listened to the doctors."

6. "Michael had a very low pain tolerance," Rowe said, crying in the courtroom. "His fear of pain was incredible and I think the doctors took advantage of him that way."

7. Rowe said that over the years, at Klein's office and at the office of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin, Jackson was treated with Diprivan, aka propofol -- the anesthetic Murray administered to the singer before he died -- "probably 10 times," including during acne treatments.

8. She said she was concerned that Hoefflin was "overprescribing medications" to Jackson and that the plastic surgeon and Klein would try to out-do each other with regard to the painkillers they would administer, adding: "These idiots were going back and forth all the time and not caring about him."

9. Rowe said Jackson wanted his plastic surgeon to inject steroids into his nose, saying that he had "extensive scarring" that made it difficult to breathe. She told the court that the doctor put him under general anesthesia but did not perform the procedure because he said he did not see the scarring. Rowe said the surgeon put tape on Jackson's nose and told the singer he had administered the injections.

10. Jackson saw Klein in the early 1990s, "not that often." He saw Hoefflin sometimes every six months, sometimes more often, Rowe said.

11. Rowe recalled a time she found Jackson under the influence of a painkiller called Dilaudid that Hosefflin had prescribed. She said she confiscated the pills and unplugged the phones in his hotel room.

"He liked to talk on the phone," she said. "You couldn't understand him. I didn't want him to embarrass himself. I was there all night."

12. Rowe said she eventually told Jackson he had a drug issue.

"I said you're taking too much, you can't take this forever," she said.

What Debbie Rowe revealed about herself ...

13. She was born in Spokane, Washington.

14. Her father was an Air Force pilot.

15. She breeds and trains American Quarter Horse and has raised American Paint Horses for 10 years.

16. She moved to Los Angeles when her parents divorced. She was 11 at the time.

17. She attended Hollywood High School and graduated in 1977. She attended Los Angeles Valley College for a year and studied to become a nurse technician.

18. She also studied to become an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and once worked for an ambulance company before she began her job as an assistant at Dr. Arnold Klein's office. She said: "He was a legend in his own mind. We had a very high profile clientele."

19. She began her job at Klein's office in the late 1970s and stopped working for him in 1997. She said she's not good with dates but is good with facts, joking: "I hated history."

20. She said she left her job after Jackson "encouraged me to go back to college."

21. She attended Antioch University in Los Angeles for two and half years and obtained a degree in psychology. She then left Los Angeles and in 2002, she moved to work as a horse breeder Palmdale, located 60 miles north. At the beginning of her testimony, Rowe joked: "I sat in traffic for 20 minutes! 20 minutes!"

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Jackson's ex-wife says med visits concerned her
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY AP Entertainment Writer
Posted: 08/15/2013 11:22:17 AM PDT
Updated: 08/15/2013 01:21:05 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES—Michael Jackson's ex-wife acknowledged Thursday that she was concerned that some of his frequent medical visits were motivated more by a desire for drugs than by the treatments he received.

Debbie Rowe testified during the trial of a lawsuit that she told Jackson about her concerns when he would go to his longtime dermatologist more than once a week in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Rowe worked in the office of the dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein.

"I didn't understand why he would come in twice in one week," Rowe said, adding that she was concerned he might be in search of drugs rather than treatments for blemishes with collagen injections. "I didn't necessarily see what he wanted to have done."

Rowe has offered a conflicting portrait of Jackson's medical treatments during her testimony, saying earlier that she never saw him engage in doctor shopping or request specific pain medications. She said many of the visits were legitimately tied to treatments for the skin-lightening condition vitiligo and scars he sustained after being burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.

Rowe, clutching a tissue and breaking down at times, described Jackson as suffering debilitating pain throughout the nearly 20 years that the pair were close friends. She said her husband trusted his doctors and depended on them to give him proper medications.

"When it came to the pain ... it was more begging for relief than anything," Rowe said. "He respected doctors so he wouldn't question what they were doing."

Rowe is the mother of the singer's two oldest children, Prince and Paris Jackson. She and the pop star were married from 1996 to 1999.

She is testifying in a lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother against AEG Live LLC, the promoter of Jackson's ill-fated "This Is It" comeback concerts.

Rowe hugged Katherine Jackson and held her hand during a break in testimony. Rowe was called to the witness stand by AEG Live attorneys but told the jury on Wednesday that she was not testifying for either side and wouldn't have come to court if she hadn't received a subpoena.

Jackson's scalp was badly burned when his hair caught on fire while filming a 1984 Pepsi commercial. The injuries left his scalp with painful scarring that required surgeries and injections of medications to try to lessen the pain and repair the damage.

Rowe said the injuries as well as the effects of vitiligo left Jackson feeling like he was disfigured.

On another matter, Rowe said Jackson was devastated by his divorce from Lisa Marie Presley and because he didn't have any children. Rowe said she told him they should have a baby together.

By that time, she and Jackson had been friends for more than a decade, with Rowe holding the singer's hand as he received injections for numerous medical procedures and talking with him several times a week.

"I wanted him to be a father," she said. "I wanted him to have everything he didn't have growing up. I wanted him to experience it with his own child, with his own children."

Katherine Jackson claims in her lawsuit that AEG Live failed to properly investigate the doctor later convicted of giving her son an overdose of the anesthetic propofol while he prepared for a series of comeback shows in 2009.

AEG denies it hired Conrad Murray or bears any responsibility for the singer's death.

Marvin S. Putnam, the company's lead defense attorney, said in opening statements that the case was about Jackson's personal choices and his desire to use propofol as a sleep aid.

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Jackson's ex-wife says med visits concerned her


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's ex-wife acknowledged Thursday that she was concerned that some of his frequent medical visits were motivated more by a desire for drugs than by the treatments he received.

Debbie Rowe testified during the trial of a lawsuit that she told Jackson about her concerns when he would go to his longtime dermatologist more than once a week in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Rowe worked in the office of the dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein.

"I didn't understand why he would come in twice in one week," Rowe said, adding that she was concerned he might be in search of drugs rather than treatments for blemishes with collagen injections. "I didn't necessarily see what he wanted to have done."

Rowe has offered a conflicting portrait of Jackson's medical treatments during her testimony, saying earlier that she never saw him engage in doctor shopping or request specific pain medications. She said many of the visits were legitimately tied to treatments for the skin-lightening condition vitiligo and scars he sustained after being burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.

Rowe, clutching a tissue and breaking down at times, described Jackson as suffering debilitating pain throughout the nearly 20 years that the pair were close friends. She said her husband trusted his doctors and depended on them to give him proper medications.

"When it came to the pain ... it was more begging for relief than anything," Rowe said. "He respected doctors so he wouldn't question what they were doing."

Rowe is the mother of the singer's two oldest children, Prince and Paris Jackson. She and the pop star were married from 1996 to 1999.

View gallery."Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's former wife and mother …
Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's former wife and mother of two of his children, leaves Los Angeles Cou …
She is testifying in a lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother against AEG Live LLC, the promoter of Jackson's ill-fated "This Is It" comeback concerts.

Rowe hugged Katherine Jackson and held her hand during a break in testimony. Rowe was called to the witness stand by AEG Live attorneys but told the jury on Wednesday that she was not testifying for either side and wouldn't have come to court if she hadn't received a subpoena.

Jackson's scalp was badly burned when his hair caught on fire while filming a 1984 Pepsi commercial. The injuries left his scalp with painful scarring that required surgeries and injections of medications to try to lessen the pain and repair the damage.

Rowe said the injuries as well as the effects of vitiligo left Jackson feeling like he was disfigured. The singer was forced to wear wigs and de-pigment his skin and struggled to deal with the effects while in the public eye.

On another matter, Rowe said Jackson was devastated by his divorce from Lisa Marie Presley and because he didn't have any children. Rowe said she told him they should have a baby together.

By that time, she and Jackson had been friends for more than a decade, with Rowe holding the singer's hand as he received injections for numerous medical procedures and talking with him several times a week.

"I wanted him to be a father," she said. "I wanted him to have everything he didn't have growing up. I wanted him to experience it with his own child, with his own children."

Rowe broke down when describing her recent relationship with her daughter Paris. She said she had been in daily touch with the teen until she had to be hospitalized on June 5, when paramedics were summoned to the Jackson family home in Calabasas. Paris, 15, took Motrin pills and cut her arm with a kitchen knife, according to emergency dispatchers.

View gallery."FILE - In this April 28, 1996 file photo shows pop …
FILE - In this April 28, 1996 file photo shows pop singer Michael Jackson, left, and his wife Debbie …
Rowe was asked how Jackson's death had affected his only daughter.

"She is devastated," Rowe said. "She tried to kill herself. She is devastated. She has no life. She doesn't feel she has a life anymore."

Jackson family representatives have not provided an update or publicly classified her hospitalization as a suicide attempt. Jurors have heard from her older brother, Prince, but have only seen Paris through a couple clips of her deposition and have heard references to her struggling with her father's death.

Katherine Jackson claims in her lawsuit that AEG Live failed to properly investigate the doctor later convicted of giving her son an overdose of the anesthetic propofol while he prepared for a series of comeback shows in 2009.

AEG denies it hired Conrad Murray or bears any responsibility for the singer's death.

Marvin S. Putnam, the company's lead defense attorney, said in opening statements that the case was about Jackson's personal choices and his desire to use propofol as a sleep aid.

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JUDGE YVETTE HAS DISMISSED THE CASE AGAINST PAUL GONGAWARE AND RANDY PHILLIPS, JACKSON/AEG

This Ivette is a real bit$$$$!

Judge dismisses AEG execs from Jackson lawsuit

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer
Updated: Monday, September 9, 2013, 2:35 PM EDT
Published: Monday, September 9, 2013, 2:35 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has dismissed two executives from a negligence lawsuit filed by Michael Jackson's mother against the promoters of his planned comeback concerts.

Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled Monday that lawyers for Katherine Jackson hadn't proven claims that Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG Live LLC, and promoter Paul Gongaware could be held responsible the death of the pop star.

The judge ruled that a jury should determine whether AEG Live hired the doctor later convicted of giving Michael Jackson a lethal overdose of anesthetic in June 2009.

Katherine Jackson's lawyers have attacked the actions of Gongaware and Phillips during the months leading to the death. They have claimed the men missed warning signs about the superstar's health and created a conflict of interest for his physician.

AEG Live denies any wrongdoing.

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Michael Jackson's family wants $85 million per child from AEG Live


By Jeff Gottlieb
September 24, 2013, 7:09 p.m.
An attorney for Michael Jackson’s family told jurors Tuesday that concert promoter AEG Live hired the doctor who administered the fatal dose of a powerful anesthetic and that the company now should pay for the singer’s death.

Brian Panish told jurors that AEG should have to pay non-economic or personal damages of $85 million to each of Jackson’s three children and $35 million to his mother.

This marked the first time in the nearly five-month-long trial that the Jacksons have placed a number on damages they are seeking from the entertainment company.

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson | 1958-2009

Those figures could be dwarfed by the economic damages, however. Panish told jurors they would have to sort that out, but he showed them a slide that reminded the panel that an expert witness testified the singer would have earned $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion if he had lived, from new music, tours, endorsements and a Las Vegas show.

“We’re not looking for sympathy,” Panish said. “We’re looking for justice, full and complete.”

Panish, speaking in a much more low-key manner than when he took testimony, quoted Abraham Lincoln and the Book of Exodus during his day-long closing argument.

He also went straight at the question of Jackson’s culpability in his death. “It’s about shared responsibility,” he said. “Michael probably has some fault.... I’m not going to deny that Michael used prescription drugs and that people told him it’s risky to use propofol.”

But he said that unless Dr. Conrad Murray, who gave Jackson the anesthetic for 60 days to fight insomnia, had been hired by AEG, Jackson would still be alive.

“No Murray, no AEG, no propofol, Michael’s still here,” he said.

The Jacksons have sued AEG over Jackson's death, saying the entertainment firm negligently hired and supervised Murray. AEG maintains that the doctor worked for Jackson, and any money the firm was supposed to pay the doctor was an advance to the singer.

AEG attorneys are set to make closing arguments Wednesday, and the case could be in the jury’s hands by the end of the week.


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Debbie Rowe threatens to sue Michael Jackson's doctor

Debbie Rowe threatened to sue Michael Jackson's doctor over accusations she stole Demerol to supply to the late star.

The 54-year-old nurse got involved in a bitter war of words with dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein - who introduced Debbie to Michael after being employed as a nurse by him in the 1980s - on Twitter, after he alleged she took the powerful painkillers from his practice to feed the singer's addiction.

In his blog on Monday (09.22.13), Arnold wrote: "Debbie Rowe was giving Michael Demerol she stole from my office. She is a fraud! Just look at here."

Debbie - who is mother to two of Michael's kids, Prince,16, and 15-year-old Paris - strongly denied the claims in a series of furious tweets by insisting Klein was trying to deflect from what she believes is his involvement in the events that ultimately led to Michael's death from acute Propofol intoxication in June 2009.
She wrote: "So Klein wants to accuse me of stealing a controlled substance hmmmm I should probably be in prison since it's a felony yet I'm not.

"You can't stop the truth it's an injustice that Klein will never be tried for his involvement. He is a spineless enigma with a deadly touch. (sic)"

When a Twitter user asked her if she would take legal action the over "false" claims, Debbie replied: "I'm gonna."
The accusations come after Debbie had blamed Dr. Klein for fuelling Michael's drug addiction when she appeared in court during Katherine Jackson's billion dollar lawsuit against concert promoters AEG Live in July.
Katherine is suing the company for damages for their alleged role in the wrongful death of her son.

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Journal Reveals MJ’s Desire To Be ‘Better Than Gene Kelly & Fred Astaire,’ Desperation To Be ‘The Greatest Ever’
Posted on Sep 12, 2013 @ 3:06AM | By Dylan Howard & Jen Heger

Tragic Michael Jackson grappled with his desperation to be “the greatest ever” performer — a bigger star than Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire — in the months before his tragic death, his secret diary reveals.

RadarOnline.com has obtained twelve pages of the King of Pop’s journal which detail his blueprint to be rebuild his flagging career in the hope of eventually becoming “immortalized” — like his idols Charlie Chaplin, Michelangelo and Walt Disney.

READ: MJ’s Secret Diary Bares Desire To Be ‘Immortalized’ & ‘The Greatest Ever’

But the notes, filed in a Los Angeles court as part of his wrongful death trial, also detail how a hopeless and drug-addicted Jackson wanted his personal physician, Conrad Murray, on the plane bound for London and his doomed “This Is It” tour to administer drugs.

The Thriller megastar wrote how he needed the death doctor — who administered Jackson’s fateful dose of the powerful anesthetic proposal — to set-up a “drip” so he could get “Rim [sic] sleep,” the handwritten notes reveal.

“Conrad must practice now,” Jackson wrote. “I can’t be tired after procedure to important Rim [sic] sleep.”

He added, “Hire Conrad exclusive.”

The diary is laced with a tortured Jackson’s yearning to make his comeback series of 50 concerts a success, after years of sordid headlines, questionable behavior and persistent child molestation allegations.

The Billie Jean hit-maker details his last-ditch attempt to begin earning $20 million income each week, by moving into movie production after the tour’s end and ultimately becoming the “first multi-billionaire entertainer-actor-director.”

“Better than Kelly and Astaire,” wrote Jackson, who died at age 50, a day after a rehearsal and three weeks before the first concert on what would have been his final tour.

“The greatest [ever] in the likes of Chaplin, Michelangelo and Disney – these men demanded perfection, innovation always.”

The pop star remarked how he wanted AEG, the concert promoter, to help him develop and remake movies for such fantasy classics as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Ali Baba and 40 Thieves, Jack The Giant Killer and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Jackson — who considered himself the real-life Peter Pan — also plotted to create a 3D version of Aladdin, the Disney animation mega-hit from 1992.

He scrawled, “If I don’t concentrate [on] film, no immortalization.”

The most celebrated entertainer the world has ever seen also wanted to take on The Great White Way with a musical about his life; and create his own merchandise lines of soda and cookies.

He noted his desire to meet with Simon Fuller, the man behind American Idol and the Spice Girls, whom he though could help him resurrect his career.

While he had adulation for Fuller, Jackson couldn’t say the same kind sentiments of Tohme Tohme, his ex-manager.

“Tohmey (sic) away from my $ now,” he blasted in one entry. “No Tohmey near me, No Tohmey on plane or in my house,” he added, in another.

The 13-Grammy Award winner — who was strapped for cash at the time and living like a vagabond, as a court has heard — noted how he needed to “hire an accountant I trust” and lawyer, but warned himself, “caution, caution.”

In another note, he wrote: “Mother do you need $.”

Lawyers for Katherine Jackson are fighting to get the notes admitted into evidence, however AEG, who were promoting the London concerts, is arguing the notes are hearsay and should not be allowed to be used.

“There is simply no evidence showing when Michael Jackson wrote the notes, why he did so, or what they mean. As a result, there is no way to know whether the notes ever showed Michael Jackson’s plan, motive, or intent,” said a motion, obtained by Radar.

Katherine, 83, is suing the concert promoter for wrongful death saying the company’s executives negligently hired the doctor who overdosed her son and should be held financially liable.

AEG Live maintains that Jackson kept his dependency on propofol secret from outsiders, that a proposed contract with Murray was never fully executed and they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.

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AEG Verdict Could Shake Up Entertainment Business


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of late pop star Michael Jackson against his concert promoter is now in the hands of a jury, and the verdict could have far-reaching implications for how the entertainment industry does business with its biggest stars.

The 21-week trial, which has opened a window into the private life and last days of the King of Pop, has put not only concert promoter AEG Live on trial but also the entertainment industry’s live-performance business model, analysts say.

After closing arguments concluded on Thursday, the judge sent the jury to deliberate and a verdict is expected some time next week, if not earlier. Jackson family lawyers have suggested in court documents that damages could exceed $1 billion.

“If AEG is found liable, that puts these companies on the line for millions and billions of dollars, and it is already causing the industry to rethink how the structure is set up,” said Jo Piazza, the author of “Celebrity, Inc.” and a celebrity branding consultant.

Currently, entertainment producers typically pay up-front sums running into millions of dollars to performers in exchange for being able to have greater control over some of the performers’ affairs.

The lawsuit alleged that “AEG came to control much of Jackson’s life. The home Jackson lived in was provided by AEG; his finances were dependent on AEG, and his assets stood security if he failed to perform.” Those assets included The Sony/ATV music catalog owned by Jackson, which even includes iconic Beatles songs.

The verdict “could have a chilling effect on how much micro-management of a star’s life companies like AEG and other production companies have,” Piazza said.

“But the reason the micro-management even exists is to make sure that the celebrities, the talent, is in the best position possible to make money for the production company,” she added.

That kind of control is the crux of the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, and his three children.

PROFITS AND RISKS

In the suit, Jackson’s family alleges that privately held AEG Live, one of the world’s top concert promoters, negligently hired cardiologist Conrad Murray as Jackson’s personal physician and ignored signs that the singer was in poor health.

The “Thriller” singer died in 2009 in Los Angeles at age 50 from an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol.

Murray, who was caring for Jackson as the singer rehearsed for his series of 50 comeback “This Is It” concerts, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering the propofol that killed the star.

“It’s the kind of case that every entertainment lawyer is paying attention to because everybody in the entertainment industry has assistants and sometimes that entails medical attention as well,” said John Nockleby, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

AEG Live has argued that Jackson had prescription drug and addiction problems for years before entering into any agreement with the company.

It also has said that it did not hire or supervise Murray and could not have foreseen that the physician would have posed a danger to the singer.

“They (AEG Live) chose to run the risk and make a huge profit,” Jackson family attorney Brian Panish said this week in closing arguments.

“The industry is watching and waiting and seeing very much how this plays out,” said Jody Armour, a law professor at the University of Southern California who specializes in personal injury claims.

“It could have a deterrent effect on corporations going forward, and how much and how aggressively they push entertainers to meet their contractual obligations,” he added.


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Michael Jackson Trial: AEG Not Liable for Death

UPDATED: The jury ruled that while the concert promoter hired Murray, he was not unfit for his job.

On Wednesday, after a lengthy trial that took up the entire summer, a jury unanimously found that AEG Live was not liable for the death of Michael Jackson.


Jackson's family sued AEG a year after the King of Pop died in June of 2009, arguing that the concert promoter negligently hired and controlled Murray, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson propofol before his death.

Today a jury ruled that while the concert promoter hired Murray, he was not unfit for his job, thereby rejecting the lawsuit brought by Jackson's mother, Katherine, and other members of his family.

A victory for the Jacksons could have produced hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for Katherine and the King of Pop's three children and provided a rebuke of AEG Live, the country's second-largest concert promoter.

"The jury's decision completely vindicates AEG Live, confirming what we have known from the start -- that although Michael Jackson's death was a terrible tragedy, it was not a tragedy of AEG Live's making," Marvin Putnam of O'Melveny & Myers, AEG Live's lead trial counsel, said in a statement.

"There was simply no evidence that anyone at AEG did anything wrong," Putnam added. "The win was a great victory for [AEG executive Randy] Phillips in particular, who was personally sued by the Jacksons."

"I counted Michael Jackson a creative partner and a friend," Phillips said. "We lost one of the world's greatest musical geniuses, but I am relieved and deeply grateful that the jury recognized that neither I, nor anyone else at AEG Live, played any part in Michael's tragic death."
Katherine Jackson told reporters she was OK after the verdict.


AEG Inc. CEO Dan Beckerman added: "I am pleased that the jury recognized that this lawsuit was without merit, and the entire AEG family looks forward to putting this unfortunate chapter behind us."
The central question in the wrongful death case was responsibility.

AEG Live maintained there wasn't enough evidence to suggest that it was responsible for Murray's hiring, that the doctor had been Michael Jackson's longtime physician and that it only administered the relationship.

In contrast, Jackson's family attempted to show that AEG's executives were deeply familiar with Jackson's ill state and in advance of the planned This Is It tour, placed pressures on Jackson and his team that eventually led to his death.
At trial, Brian Panish, the attorney for the family, admitted that the singer had a role in Murray's hiring, but said that Jackson was only 20 percent to blame for what happened.

Instead, Panish pointed to the "money-making machine" that was Jackson's tour, and said of AEG Live, "All they care about is: How much money is this freak going to make for them?"
STORY: Michael Jackson Wrongful-Death Case Goes to Jury
"Propofol might not be the best idea," he added. "But if you have a competent doctor, you're not going to die."
Marvin Putnam, attorney for the defense, ridiculed this idea as well as the Jackson family's request to award up to $2 billion in damages.

"AEG Live did not have a crystal ball," he said. "Dr. Murray and Mr. Jackson fooled everyone. They want to blame AEG for something no one saw."

The trial concluded last week after 58 witnesses including Jackson's mother, two of his kids, his ex-wife Debbie Rowe, AEG execs and Kenny Ortega, the director of the aborted comeback show, gave testimony over 21 weeks.
In an entertainment industry in which producers have been increasing their up-front fees in order to maintain more control, the decision will come as a relief to those who feared a decision for the Jackson family would be a deterrent toward pushing performers to meet contractual obligations and intervening in personal affairs.

Some legal observers believe the decision was the right call.
Eric German, an attorney at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, says, "Just as in other areas of the law where we want to encourage someone to help rather than to sit idly by watching someone in need struggle, the law needs to provide room for entertainment industry professionals to use their unique position of trust to involve themselves to a greater degree in meeting the personal needs of the artist."

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Jury Rejects Claim That Jackson Promoter Negligent

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury cleared a concert promoter of negligence in a case that attempted to link the death of Michael Jackson to the company that promoted his ill-fated comeback shows.

The panel rejected a lawsuit brought by Jackson’s mother claiming AEG Live was negligent in hiring the doctor who killed Jackson with an overdose of a hospital anesthetic that the singer used as a sleep aid.

With its verdict, the panel also delivered a somewhat surprising message: Jurors did not believe Dr. Conrad Murray was unfit or incompetent to perform his duties involving Jackson.
The ruling on that question ended any further consideration on damages and who was at fault for the death.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the way the jury came out. They got it exactly right,” AEG Live lead defense attorney Marvin S. Putnam said after the verdict was read.
Katherine Jackson told reporters she was OK after the verdict.
A victory could have meant hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for Katherine Jackson and the singer’s three children and provided a rebuke of AEG Live, the nation’s second-largest concert promoter.

Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter after giving Jackson the overdose as he prepared for a series of comeback shows.
The case provided the closest look yet at Jackson’s drug use and his battles against chronic pain and insomnia. It also took jurors behind the scenes in the rough and tumble world of negotiations with one of the world’s most famous entertainers looking to solidify his legendary status after scandal interrupted his career.

Witnesses said he saw the “This Is It” concerts as a chance for personal redemption after being acquitted of child molestation.
But as the opening date of the shows approached, associates testified that he had bouts of insecurity and agonized over his inability to sleep. They said he turned to the drug propofol and found Murray, who was willing to buy it in bulk and administer it to him on a nightly basis even though it is not meant to be used outside operating rooms.

Testimony at the civil trial showed that only Jackson and Murray knew he was taking the drug.
In his closing argument, AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam told jurors that the company would have pulled the plug on the shows if they knew he was using the anesthetic.
“AEG would have never agreed to finance this tour if they knew Mr. Jackson was playing Russian roulette in his bedroom every night,”

Brian Panish, a lawyer for the Jackson family, countered that AEG Live was negligent by not looking far enough to find out what it needed to know about Murray. He claimed in his closing argument that the lure of riches turned the company and Murray into mercenaries who sacrificed the pop star’s life in a quest to boost their own fortunes.

Panish asked jurors: “Do people do things they shouldn’t do for money? People do it every day.”
He said Murray’s $150,000-a-month contract to care for Jackson was a lifeline to help him climb out of his financial troubles, which included $500,000 in debt. AEG Live, meanwhile, had only one interest — launching a world tour for the King of Pop that would yield untold millions in profits, the lawyer said.

AEG Live’s lawyers framed the case as being about personal choice, saying Jackson made bad choices about the drug that killed him and the doctor who provided it. They said he was the architect of his own demise and no one else can be blamed.
Putnam said Jackson insisted on hiring the cardiologist, despite objections from AEG Live.

“It was his money and he certainly wasn’t going to take no for an answer,” the lawyer said.
Putnam portrayed AEG Live and its executives as victims of deception by Jackson and Murray. He showed brief excerpts from the “This Is It” documentary to show that Jackson appeared in top form just 12 hours before he died.

“AEG Live did not have a crystal ball,” he said. “Dr. Murray and Mr. Jackson fooled everyone. They want to blame AEG for something no one saw.”

Jurors heard testimony from more than 50 witnesses, including Jackson’s mother and his eldest son, Prince, as well as days of testimony from AEG executives who were repeatedly asked about emails in which they discussed Jackson’s missed rehearsals and described Murray’s pay as a done deal.

They also heard about Jackson’s close relationship to many of his doctors, including Murray, who he first met in Las Vegas in 2007.
Katherine Jackson called the case a search for the truth about the death of her son and the trial featured potentially embarrassing revelations for both sides. AEG’s executives had their emails picked apart, revealing concerns that Jackson wouldn’t be able to perform the shows as planned, that a lawyer at their parent company referred to Michael Jackson as “the freak,” and that Jackson was derided even though the company had invested more than $30 million in his shows.

Jackson’s greatest hits were in heavy rotation throughout the trial, with jurors watching footage of him moonwalking across stages and playing to packed arenas around the globe, with some fans so overcome with emotion that some had to be carried out on stretchers. A world few saw was also on display, with private videos of Christmas mornings Jackson spent with his children and stories about his devotion to them being recounted throughout the trial.

AEG Live, meanwhile, laid out Jackson’s medical history, presenting testimony about his use of drugs, including the powerful painkiller Demerol, for pain stemming from an accident that occurred decades ago while he was filming a Pepsi commercial. Jackson had no trace of that drug in his system when he died.

The lawyers called witnesses who recounted Jackson’s use of propofol dating back to the 1990s. In 1997, two German doctors administered the anesthetic to help the singer sleep between shows in Munich.

A few years later, Jackson requested the anesthetic from a dental anesthesiologist who refused, as did another doctor who testified that Jackson kept a box of propofol in his bedroom at Neverland Ranch.

On the issue of possible damages, expert witnesses for the company said any estimate of Jackson’s future earnings were speculative, and they showed the panel that the singer was deeply in debt and consistently spent more than he earned.
In the verdict form, jurors were first asked to decide the central question of the case — whether AEG Live hired Murray to treat Jackson. During the trial, they heard evidence that AEG had drafted a contract that was signed by Murray. But there were no indications that it was signed by AEG Live or Jackson.

Attorneys for the singer’s mother argued that Jackson’s signature was not necessary, but the company’s attorneys said the contract required his consent to be binding.
Jackson’s mother and his three children are supported by his estate, which provides a comfortable lifestyle for them and erased hundreds of millions of dollars in debts by debuting new projects and releasing new music featuring the King of Pop.

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Disbelief — and explanations — after AEG wins Michael Jackson case

By Victoria Kim, Ruben Vives and Jeff Gottlieb
October 2, 2013, 9:44 p.m.
For the dedicated Michael Jackson fans who came to the trial day after day, the singer still could do little wrong. They wore T-shirts expressing their love for the singer and their support for his aged mother. One fan even brought a bouquet of red roses to give Katherine Jackson and her attorneys.

So when the judge announced Wednesday that jurors had decided AEG Live was not responsible for Jackson's death, they weren't just stunned, they were angry. They didn't understand how a five-month trial that seemed to expose the concert promoter as caring little about the singer's well-being could end this way.

"My heart is broken," said Barbara de L'Orme, 42. "This was the greatest artist that we ever had, and they treated him like this. The evidence was right there."

When Marvin Putnam, AEG Live's lead attorney, stood in front of the scrum of TV cameras, microphones and notebooks, fans could be heard shouting, "Michael Jackson! Michael Jackson!"

Putnam told reporters AEG never considered settling the case, which could have cost it hundreds of millions — if not billions — of dollars in damages if a jury had voted the other way. "They wouldn't allow themselves to be shaken down," he said.

The attorney said that he didn't think the case should have gone to trial and that the judge should have dismissed it early on. He admitted the verdict was an emotional one for him, and some people in the courtroom said they saw a tear slide down his cheek.

Shawn Trell, AEG Live's general counsel, was asked if the concert promoter and producer would negotiate a deal with a doctor again if an entertainer made such a request. "I think that answer is self-evident," he said.

Several jurors explained how they answered "no" to the question on the verdict form that asked whether Conrad Murray, the doctor who gave Jackson the fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol, was "unfit or incompetent to perform the work for which he was hired."

Once they came to that conclusion, there was no need to answer the remaining 14 questions. Their work was done.

Gregg Barden, the jury foreman, said the verdict was not a vindication of Murray, who will soon be released from jail, where he is serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

"Conrad Murray had a license; he graduated from an accredited college," Barden said.

Then he added, "It doesn't mean we thought he was ethical."

Juror Kevin Smith, 61, said he loved Jackson's music and his dancing. Still, he voted against the pop star's mother and three children.

"Murray," he said, "was fit and competent for the job he was hired for ... Michael Jackson thought he was competent enough."

He said AEG executives had tried to persuade Jackson not to bring Murray, who was supposed to be paid $150,000 a month, on tour with him. "Michael Jackson was very used to getting his own way.... If anybody said no, he would find somebody else," Smith said.

Barden said that when jurors were handed the case after closing arguments last Thursday afternoon, the first time they could talk about the case after spending five months listening to testimony, they spent several hours "letting off steam and talking about things."

They took three or four votes to answer the first question, "Did AEG Live hire Dr. Conrad Murray?" before agreeing unanimously that it had.

"Minds were changed," Barden said.

Some people felt that Murray was hired by both Jackson and AEG, he said.

On the second question, about whether Murray was incompetent, there was confusion when the court clerk polled jurors on their votes. However, after a couple of tries, they appeared to have taken a unanimous stand.

But outside the courthouse, Barden told a different story. He said jurors had started out 12-0 but finally came up with a 10-2 tally. Jurors in a civil case only need to vote 9-3, as opposed to the unanimous count needed in a criminal case.

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