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Business News Jacksons v AEG Timeline Legal Live Business
Jackson v AEG lawsuit unlikely to reach court until next spring
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 16 May 2012
Katherine Jackson’s lawsuit against AEG Live regards its employment of Conrad Murray as her son’s personal doctor will now not reach court until next April, after lawyers for the live firm said they needed more time to prepare.
As previously reported, AEG’s attorneys had already said they were struggling to get all the information they needed from the Jackson camp in order to prepare their defence. Last month a judge ordered the Jacksons to provide whatever information was still lacking pronto, though their lawyers argued that they had gathered together the required material as fast as they could, noting that doing so had required asking the late king of pop’s children some pretty harrowing questions, which had taken a certain amount of time to do.
Murray, of course, was last year found liable for the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, with the LA criminal courts ruling that the doctor had caused the singer’s demise through negligence, in particular in providing his patient with the dangerous surgical drug propofol in a domestic environment as a cure for insomnia, and then failing to properly monitor his patient.
Mrs Jackson says AEG Live should accept civil liability for Murray’s actions as it was the company which hired the doctor and was paying his bills. However, the live firm argues that, while it may have provided the money to pay Murray’s fees, he had been recruited by and reported to Jackson himself, and the company therefore cannot be liable for the doctor’s actions.
The case had originally been due to reach court in September, but legal reps for AEG say they need more time to prepare, because of the amount of information they are processing and the time it took to gather that material, as well as number of other ‘procedural issues’. The live firm’s court submission also said the company had new information that showed Jackson’s drug dependencies preceded the appointment of Murray, and that that evidence should be reviewed before any trial begins.
The Jackson camp seem undecided about whether or not the oppose the proposed postponement of the case. The family’s attorney, Kevin Boyle, said he thought the lawsuit should have ‘priority case’ status because it involves a minor under fourteen years old – Jackson’s youngest son Blanket – which, under the LAsystem, means the courts have a duty to avoid unnecessary delays. That said, ‘priority case’ status wouldn’t speed up any court hearing that much, and Boyle seemed to admit earlier this week that having more time to prepare might help his side too.
