Attorneys for Michael Jackson’s mother and AEG Live reached an agreement this week under which the concert promoter will be reimbursed more than $800,000 for costs associated with a five-month trial concerning the singer’s death that ended in a defense victory last year.
The lawyers said they will submit a final order for approval by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos.
AEG Live lawyers originally sought more than $1.2 million for expenses to which they said their clients were entitled as the prevailing party. However, the two sides hashed out an agreement in the hallway and informed Palazuelos of their agreement for the lesser amount.
AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam said that under a tentative ruling prepared by Palazuelos, his clients received all the costs to which they were entitled under law, and about half for which the judge had discretion to approve or deny. The expenses included such costs as conducting depositions and preparing trial exhibits.
Putnam said it was appropriate for Katherine Jackson to have to compensate AEG Live for costs in a lawsuit that he believes never should have been brought.
The six-man, six-woman jury determined Oct. 2 that AEG Live did hire Dr. Conrad Murray as Jackson’s physician, but answered “no” to question No. 2, which asked if Murray was “unfit or incompetent to perform the work for which he was hired.”
With that answer, the jury denied any damages to Katherine Jackson and to her late son’s three children.
Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death, has since been released from jail. Jackson died June 25, 2009, at age 50 of acute propofol intoxication. The drug was administered to the singer by Murray while Jackson was in Los Angeles, preparing for an AEG-promoted series of sold-out concerts in London.
Katherine Jackson, 83, sued in September 2010 on behalf of herself and grandchildren Michael Jr., Paris-Michael Katherine and Prince Michael—claiming that AEG Live failed to properly supervise Murray after hiring him to be Jackson’s personal physician.
