Judge Dismisses Concert Promoter Lawsuit against Michael Jackson

On Thursday, a federal judge dismissed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by a concert promoter against the late "King of Pop," 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. The dismissal was due to a lack of evidence that the late pop icon 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. The company filed suit just about two weeks before the pop singer’s death in Los Angeles at the age of 50.

The company claimed Jackson and his then-manager broke a contract for a Jackson reunion show. They later filed a creditor’s claim with Jackson’s estate, claiming the potential value of the lawsuit was at least $300 million.

Baer determined there was a letter of intent between Jackson’s then-manager, Frank DiLeo, and AllGood, but there was never an enforceable contract. Attorneys for Jackson’s estate and DiLeo challenged 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 suggested AllGood suffered any substantial economic damage because of the failed concert. In a statement, Jackson's estate attorney, Howard Weitzman, said, “This case never had any merit and the claim was frivolous from day one.”

He continued to say, “Michael Jackson never agreed to participate in a concert promoted by AllGood as the judge clearly found in his opinion.”