Legal News

The King of Litigation

By Ashby Jones

As Michael Jackson’s father moved Sunday to assert control over his son’s estate, his attorney said that the family has not been able to locate a will for the pop icon and that Jackson’s mother will seek custody of his three children.

The above quotation is the lead to the LA Times story out today on the legal fallout arising out of Michael Jackson’s death. We chose to run it atop our own post because it — in one succinct sentence — gets at just how messy and complicated the settling of Jackson’s estate promises to be.

For now, let’s break it down; take a quick look at the lawsuits that have already been filed against the King of Pop and his production company, MJJ Productions Inc. The National Law Journal has that story, out today. According to the story: “lawyers handling those cases are spread across the country, managing everything from breach-of-contract disputes to employee claims to copyright infringement.”

For starters, there’s litigation involving the recent cancellation of an auction in which some 2000 of Jackson’s personal items were to be sold. While an initial lawsuit was settled, the auction house filed suit in May against MJJ to sort out confusion over who at MJJ was handling the dispute. That action is pending.

Another pending suit involves claims brought by AllGood Entertainment Inc., a New Jersey concert promoter that sued Jackson for $20 million. AllGood alleges that Jackson reneged on his contract when he signed a deal with AEG Live LLC to promote his shows in London.

Another suit involves Jackson’s former manager, Raymone Bain, who sued for $44 million in profits that she claims she is owed under a contract with Jackson.

Broadcast Music Inc. has brought several copyright infringement claims on behalf of MJJ Productions and Jackson, primarily against popular bars and restaurants across the nation.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 29, 2009 (boomark / email).