A Los Angeles jury has found the concert promoter behind Michael Jackson’s series of comeback concerts not guilty in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the pop superstar’s family.
“The jury’s decision completely vindicates AEG Live, confirming what we have known from the start – that although Michael Jackson’s death was a tragedy, it was not a tragedy of AEG Live’s making,” said lawyer Marvin Putnam in a statement.
“There was simply no evidence that anyone at AEG did anything wrong.”
The verdict clears AEG Live, an entertainment subsidiary of Anschutz Entertainment Group at the centre of a five-month negligence lawsuit trial, of all financial liability connected to the singer’s death.
The pop singer’s mother, Katherine, filed the lawsuit five months ago and sought damages that exceeded $1 billion including $85 million to each of Jackson’s three children and $35 million for herself, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In 2011, Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a criminal jury after Jackson died in June 2009 after being given doses of a powerful anesthetic called propofol to aid his sleep.
Jackson lawyer Brian Panish had argued AEG Live shared negligence in hiring Murray.
CNN reports the Jackson family lawyers do have grounds for an appeal, a legal process that would likely take years to decide.
With files from The Canadian Press
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