Judge dismisses promoters' lawsuit against Jackson
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit
by a concert promoter against the late Michael Jackson over a failed
reunion concert.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. granted a motion by lawyers for
Jackson's estate to dismiss the case, citing a lack of evidence that the
late King of Pop or his family were under a binding agreement to perform
at a reunion concert.
AllGood Entertainment Inc., a company started in Morristown, N.J.,
sued Jackson for $40 million on June 10, 2009, roughly two weeks before
the singer's death in Los Angeles at age 50. It claimed Jackson and his
then-manager broke a contract for a Jackson reunion show.
AllGood later filed a creditor's claim with Jackson's estate,
claiming the potential value of the lawsuit was at least $300 million.
Baer determined that there was a letter of intent between Jackson's
then-manager, Frank DiLeo, and AllGood, but never an enforceable
contract.
He noted that neither Jackson nor any other members of the family who
were to be involved in the show ever signed a contract.
Attorneys for Jackson's estate and DiLeo contended that if there was
a breach in the contract, AllGood broke the agreement first because it
did not issue a payment to Jackson before a required deadline.
Baer wrote that there was no evidence that AllGood suffered
substantial economic damage because of the failed concert.
"This case never had any merit and the claim was frivolous from day
one," Jackson estate attorney Howard Weitzman said in a statement.
"Michael Jackson never agreed to participate in a concert promoted by
AllGood as the judge clearly found in his opinion." An after-hours phone
message left for AllGood's attorney, Ira Meyerowitz, was not immediately
returned.
-AP
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