AEG Court Session 14: Doubts About Michael’s Health

At the start of the fourth week of the AEG trial, Catherine Jackson’s lawyer announced that AEG had immediately taken steps to file a claim with insurance on the very day Michael died. The family’s lawyer tried to show the jury that the company was only and only looking to profit from Michael Jackson—whether he was alive or dead.

Julie Hollander, the company’s financial manager, returned to the stand today and said that the company spent $24 million to produce the This Is It tour, which was $2.5 million over the budget cap. She had previously said that Conrad Murray’s salary, Michael’s personal doctor, was included in the tour budget. On Monday, Hollander stated that Michael Jackson’s signature on the Murray employment paperwork was necessary. Murray’s pay was listed under “tour expenses.” This was the first time Hollander had seen that an artist’s signature was required for certain tour costs to be realized. That means that without Michael’s signature, the contract would not become official, and therefore part of the tour cost—namely Murray’s salary—would not be paid. Michael’s mother believes Murray was hired by the company to take care of Michael. The company made a mistake in assessing the doctor’s suitability, and as a result of its negligence, Michael died. The company claims that Murray was hired by Michael personally. Hollander testified that she believes Michael’s signature was required because of the close relationship between doctor and patient.

According to Hollander’s testimony, if the contract had been signed by Michael and the company, Murray’s pay would have started in May at $150,000 per month. Fifty concerts from this tour were planned to be performed from July 2009 through the end of February 2010 in London. After that, Michael would likely have gone on a world tour. During that period, Murray would have received $150,000 monthly, which would add up to a very large amount. Hollander noted that it had never happened before that a doctor was hired by the company.

Hollander, however, said that the other people in the group—including dancers and musicians—were paid weekly.

This financial manager also said that if the concerts were canceled, 95% of the damages would be on Michael Jackson. Therefore, canceling concerts for any reason would target Michael and would not harm the company. The company was not the producer of the shows; it handled tour promotion. According to Hollander, the company has held about a hundred tours so far and has produced only a limited number itself.

Hollander continued by saying that after Michael’s death, the Michael Jackson Foundation agreed to pay the tour costs that unfortunately were not carried out.

Shawn Trell, the company’s chief counsel and senior attorney for ten years, was another witness today. He also represents the company in court. Brian Panish said he was the most knowledgeable person to represent the company.

Panish said that Shawn Trell, Randy Phillips, and Paul Gongwer are the three witnesses he spends the most time questioning in court.

Trell and Marvin Pountam, the company’s lawyer present in court, had both studied at the same university, though until now and until this trial they were unaware of that fact.

Trell said he knew Michael Jackson was trying to prepare and produce a film, and that Philip Anschutz, the founder and owner of AEG Live, also had a film production company. He said he had no knowledge of any possible collaboration between the two on a film.

He said he had never discussed Michael with Louie, the former CEO of the company. Louie no longer works with AEG.

After Michael’s death, police questioned Trell. In court he said: “I was looking for information about Conrad Murray.”

Brian Panish asked him about an email he had sent to the foundation on July 17, 2009, a few days after Michael’s death. In that email, he requested payment of $30 million as tour production costs. The company also listed $300,000 as Murray’s unpaid wages.

This attorney said the company provided Michael with a $5 million advance and another $3 million was used to settle a financial lawsuit. The company also paid the monthly rent for Michael’s home in Carolwood, Holmby Hills, amounting to $100,000. At the time Michael signed the contract, he lived in Carolwood. They were supposed to help Michael with $15 million in credit to buy a house in Las Vegas, or pay that amount themselves to him.

Trell misread the classification of Murray’s wages as tour expenses.

He said the company had allocated $100,000 per month as the salary for Michael’s former program director, Mr. Teme Teme. That salary was not paid because Michael did not issue a permit. Teme Teme is currently under legal pursuit by the King of Pop Foundation for fraud and deceiving Michael. The contract between the company and Michael Jackson was arranged by Teme Teme, who was fired by Michael in March. In the same month, Michael announced the tour. In the previous session, the Jackson lawyers said that the company’s payment of the program director’s salary created a conflict of interest—meaning the program director would feel accountable to the company instead of being obligated to carry out Michael Jackson’s instructions.

Shawn Trell also revealed that Dr. Conrad Murray was not the only person hired without a signed contract. Kenny Ortega, the director, also had not signed any contract. The company claimed that because Murray’s contract had not been signed by the company, Murray was not hired by them.

Brian Panish showed the court emails that explained the terms of Murray’s contract. Ortega’s hiring was based only on a number of emails and a virtual agreement.

Another email from Paul Gongwer showed that Murray was required to serve full-time starting in mid-May, one month before Michael’s death.

Panish presented an email from Conrad Murray, dated May 29, 2009, sent to the company’s finance department:

“I have fulfilled my obligations to my client (Michael). Therefore, based on our agreement, I am requesting my salary for May. As of this date, thirteen days have passed since my salary payment was due.”

Trell then accepted that an agreement had been reached about Murray’s salary, but it needed to be formalized through a contract.

When Panish asked Trell to agree to this claim—that Murray was hired by the company—based on this information, he refused and said Murray worked as an independent force and no agreement had been formed between him and the company.

Trell said that a few months before Michael’s death, David Slaight, the doctor approved by the insurance company, examined him. After that, the insurance company agreed to insure the This Is It tour for $17.5 million. The exchanged emails between Bob Taylor, the insurance agent, and Trell show that Lloyds London had doubts about the King of Pop’s health. One of the emails stated that Michael’s health was being questioned by local media. At the time, rumors about his having skin cancer were circulating, though they had no basis. In January 2009, two months before the London tour was announced, Shawn Trell and the insurance company were arguing about which doctor would conduct the exercise test and medical tests for Michael Jackson. They ultimately agreed on a New York doctor. Trell never saw the results of the tests. In March, when the tour news was being announced, Lloyds London requested another test, this time in London. He never saw that the insurance company had requested tests twice. In the second test, Michael’s health was assessed for the presence of disease. But the insurance was not satisfied either, and according to Trell they had asked them to have someone attend one of the final rehearsal sessions to check Michael’s condition—something that never happened because of Michael’s death.

Trell claimed that five days before Michael’s death, the company learned about Michael’s worsening physical condition. At that time, Kenny Ortega sent an email titled “Trouble at the Front Line” to the company’s CEO, Randy Phillips. He wrote:

“Based on his ongoing physical weakness and the worsening of his mental distress, I don’t think he will be ready to perform the tour. We are seeing severe symptoms of paranoia, anxiety, and obsessive behavior. I think the best thing is to get an expert psychologist to treat him as soon as possible. It’s as if two people are living inside him. One of them (deep within him) is trying to cling to what was in the past and what could still be, and he doesn’t want us to stop him at this time. Meanwhile, another part of him is struggling with weakness and problems. Honestly, if I had allowed him to rehearse on stage last night, he would have hurt himself. I think we need the consultation of a specialist.”

Ortega had explained that these symptoms were similar to those in 1995 that led to the cancellation of the HBO show, and that he, Karen Faye, Travis Payne, and Michael Bush had witnessed it. (Read more)

Trell said that on June 19 he learned about Michael Jackson’s illness through Randy Phillips and Paul Gongwer. In response to this email, the company arranged a meeting at Michael’s home with his doctor, Conrad Murray, present.

Trell said: “I think they took the matter seriously.”

But Phillips rejected Ortega’s request to get help from a psychologist and, in an email to Ortega, sarcastically suggested that he keep his expert opinions to himself.

“It would be better if neither I nor you nor anyone else pretends to have medical and psychological knowledge.”

At the meeting mentioned above, Michael promised to work to improve his health, and Murray agreed not to neglect this effort.

Many people described Michael’s performance during the two nights before his death as excellent, saying that Michael had returned to the stage.

Source: eMJey.com / AP & CNN & ABC & LA Times