AEG Live executives not liable in Michael Jackson death

The jury in the Michael Jackson wrongful death case has ruled AEG Live executives are not liable for the King of Pop’s death. The 12-person panel agreed the promoters hired disgraced medic Dr. Conrad Murray to take care of Jackson’s medical needs ahead of his ill-fated This Is It comeback dates, but ruled that he was not “unfit or incompetent to perform the work for which he was hired”.
As a result of the verdict, which was delivered on Wednesday (02Oct13) after three days of deliberations, AEG Live executives will not have to pay hundreds of millions in compensation to the Jackson family. An expert had estimated that economic damages could be more than $1 billion if AEG Live was found liable for the pop superstar’s passing.
The wrongful death trial lasted five months and featured a procession of expert witnesses, Jackson associates and staff and personal testimonies from his children and mother Katherine, who was in court for the verdict, which was read at 3.40pm local time in Los Angeles.
She claimed AEG Live bosses negligently hired and supervised Dr. Conrad Murray and pushed her son way beyond his physical limits for his This Is It tour. The promoters’ legal team maintained throughout the trial that Jackson pressured AEG to hire Murray as his personal physician. Attorneys for the promoter argued that Jackson and Murray deceived their client by concealing that Jackson was receiving the surgical aneesthetic propofol in his home as a sleep aid.
The pop superstar died of an overdose of propofol. Murray is set to be released from jail later this month (Oct13) after serving two years for involuntary manslaughter. He was convicted after a jury found him guilty of administering the fatal does of propofol which claimed Jackson’s life in 2009.
Speaking after the verdict was announced, Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe revealed she was “confused” by the ruling.
She said, “If they (AEG Live) hired him (Murray), they should bear some of the responsibility. I don’t understand.”