A judge issued a tentative ruling
Friday against granting a new trial in a negligence case filed by the
mother of Michael Jackson claiming a concert promoter was financially
liable for the singer’s death.
Superior
Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos did not immediately finalize the ruling
after hearing more than two hours of arguments from lawyers.
A
jury in October rejected Katherine Jackson’s lawsuit claiming AEG Live
LLC negligently hired the doctor convicted of giving her son an overdose
of anesthetic in 2009.
Her lawyers argued the verdict form
didn’t allow jurors to fully consider evidence in the case. Lawyers for
AEG Live countered that there was no basis for a new trial.
AEG
Live attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina told the judge it was actually
Katherine Jackson’s lawyers who included the disputed language in drafts
of the verdict form and instructions.
Jackson
family attorney Deborah Chang, however, said the question that brought
jurors to end the case couldn’t have been corrected and should have been
excluded from the form.
Palazuelos
did not indicate when she would finalize her ruling. If she stands by
it, Katherine Jackson’s attorneys could pursue an appeal with a higher
state court.
Jurors heard more than five months of evidence in the lawsuit trial.
Katherine
Jackson sued AEG Live on behalf of herself and her son’s three
children, accusing the concert promoter of hiring Dr. Conrad Murray and
creating a conflict of interest in his care of the pop superstar.
Murray,
who was deeply in debt, expected to be paid $150,000 a month to care
for Jackson while the singer prepared for a planned series of comeback
concerts in London’s O2 Arena. Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after
receiving an overdose of propofol, which Murray was giving Jackson as a
sleep aid.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 and released in October after serving two years in jail.
The
trial offered a close look into Jackson’s personal life as well as his
routines as an entertainer and medical treatments for a variety of
ailments.
Jurors later said their verdict did
not mean they thought Murray was ethical in his care of Jackson, but
that he was fit and competent to serve as his doctor.
AEG
Live denied any wrongdoing throughout the trial and said there was no
way executives could have known that Murray was giving Jackson propofol
in the bedroom of his rented mansion.
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