American Entertainment Gangsters

Michael Jackson Family Loses Lawsuit Against AEG Live

AEG Live was not liable in the 2009 death of Michael Jackson. So determined the six-man, six-woman jury who decided in favor of the concert promoter. Katherine Jackson had alleged that AEG Live contributed to her son’s 2009 death by negligently hiring Dr. Conrad Murray to oversee his medical care without properly vetting the doctor or paying concern to signs that her 50-year-old son’s health was in decline.

The jury determined that AEG did hire Murray, but that the doctor was not unfit or incompetent to perform the services asked of him. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering the dose of the anesthetic propofol that ultimately killed Jackson. Katherine was present for the reading of the verdict. The jury started deliberations on Thursday after nearly five months of testimony from dozens of witnesses, including Jackson’s mother; his son Prince; daughter Paris (via video deposition); and ex-wife Deborah Rowe.

On Friday, the jurors requested a dozen copies of the contract that AEG gave Murray (which, when Jackson died, had only been signed by Murray so far); a copy of the 2009 documentary This Is It, which was compiled from interviews and footage of the rehearsals for Jackson’s ill-fated London engagement; and a DVD player. The Jackson family’s legal camp had argued that the star was poised to earn upward of $1 billion from the planned 50-date This Is It engagement at London’s O2 arena being put on by AEG. The jury’s decision completely vindicates AEG Live, confirming that although Michael Jackson’s death was a terrible tragedy, it was not a tragedy of AEG Live’s making.