MUMBAI: More than four years after his death, the drama goes on as Michael Jackson’s family and organizers of his attempted musical comeback fight out a $40 billion civil trial.
Katherine Jackson, 82, and her son's three children are seeking some $40 billion in damages from AEG Live for loss of the singer's earnings and other damages.
AEG Live has argued in court papers that the figure is absurd because Jackson's career was in a downward spiral at the time of his death.
Opening statements are set for 29 April, where Jackson’s family are seeking to hold AEG Live, the promoters of the never-realized series of 2009 London concerts, liable for the wrongful death of the ‘Thriller’ singer.
The lawsuit, alleges that privately-held AEG Live was negligent in hiring the physician convicted in 2011 of his involuntary manslaughter to care for the singer while he rehearsed for the series of 50 shows.
Jackson, 50, drowning in debt and seeking to rebuild a reputation damaged by his 2005 trial and acquittal on child molestation charges, died in Los Angeles of an overdose of the powerful surgical anesthetic propofol and a cocktail of other sedatives in June 2009.
Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is serving a four-year prison sentence after being found criminally negligent by administering propofol to Jackson as a sleep aid.
Murray's six-week trial in 2011 portrayed the former child star known for his stunning dance moves and spectacular public performances as a slurring, drugged-up man off-stage who slept with a toy doll on his bed and whose planned comeback tour was plagued with problems.
The civil trial in Los Angeles is expected to be just as sensational, although a request by TV networks for live coverage was turned down.
AEG Live contends that it did not hire or supervise Murray and claims that Jackson had prescription drug problems for years before entering into any agreement for the "This is It" London concerts.
The concert promoters also argue that they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.
Los Angeles Superior Court judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled last month that AEG Live can raise Jackson's 2005 child abuse case as it may be relevant to the singer's history of prescription drug abuse and despondency.
Jackson's two oldest children, Prince, 16 and Paris, 15, are on the witness list this time, although neither testified in Murray's trial. Singers Prince and Diana Ross are also potential witnesses along with the singer's ex-wives, Lisa-Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe.
The final amount will be determined by the jury should it hold AEG Live liable for negligence.