The Michael Jackson wrongful death civil lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live is without two defendants. The judge in the case has dismissed two AEG executives, but Katherine Jackson’s case against the company is still ongoing.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos threw out the case for just Randy Phillips and Paul Gongaware, two executives Jackson’s mother named in the suit, notes Reuters. AEG’s attorneys had hoped that Palazuelos would dismiss the case entirely before it finally goes to a jury, but she has allowed it to continue.
“We're where we were at the beginning of the case,” Brian Panish, the Jackson family’s head attorney, said, reports the Los Angeles Times. “Everything they've done to stop the jury from deciding the case has failed.”
The case has been going on for months already, with the Jackson family claiming that AEG was negligent by hiring Dr. Conrad Murray to monitor the King of Pop’s health. Murray was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s 2009 death, since he administered the lethal dose of propofol.
But AEG claims that it did not hire Murray and that it is not responsible for Jackson’s death and that Jackson had been relying on drugs for years before his death.
The stakes are high for AEG, since it stands to lose as much as $1.5 billion, which is how much Jackson could have made if he lived on to perform his This Is It comeback shows.
Fans have been given a look at Jackson’s final days thanks to testimony from Katherine, Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe and others.
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