Michael Jackson’s mother is seeking a judge’s permission to intervene as a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against her late son’s estate by four people who maintain they had interests in a company the singer created before his 2009 death.
Lawyers for the Jackson estate maintain the estate owns 100 percent of the Michael Jackson Co. because the singer was the sole owner when he was alive. However, in her court papers, 86-year-old Katherine Jackson agrees with the other claimants that she has a 10 percent interest in the entity. She says the executors, John Branca and John McClain, “failed to properly apprise her” of the proceedings.
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“Mrs. Jackson has a right to intervene in this action to protect her 10 percent ownership interest in TMJC,” her lawyer, Ryan Baker, stated in papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. “Any resolution of this matter without Mrs. Jackson’s participation will impair her ability to protect her ownership interest in the TMJC.”
Baker further argued that the Jackson family matriarch was not able to try to become a plaintiff in the case earlier because she was only recently informed about the proceedings. Baker’s court papers do not identify who told his client about the case other than to state it was not the executors.
Attorneys for Qadree El-Amin, Broderick Morris, Raymone Bain and Adean King maintain that their clients collectively own about 15 percent of the company under a 3 a.m. deal Jackson made with them in a Tokyo hotel room on June 1, 2006.
The four claimants say it was Jackson’s idea to form the company and that he reserved 75 ownership for himself; 10 percent each to his mother and Bain, his general manager; and 1.68 percent each to El-Amin, Morris and King.
Judge Maria Stratton began hearing testimony in the claimants’ case during a non-jury, probate court trial that began in late 2015 and concluded with final arguments in mid-2016. She then took the case under submission and has not yet ruled on the estate’s claim that the Jackson estate owns 100 percent of the MJC.
The quartet’s lawsuit, which is pending in civil court, was put on hold pending the outcome of the probate court proceedings. The lawsuit was filed in May 2013 by El-Amin and Morris. Bain and King joined the case as plaintiffs later.
King worked at the time for Bain, who testified in a sworn declaration that she met Jackson through tennis star Serena Williams. El-Amin was the manager of the R&B vocal group Boyz II Men, and Morris was the chief operating officer of Positive Productions Inc., a Japan-based company that promoted concerts and other events in that country.
The four maintain they tried to help Jackson recharge his career through public appearances, performing on tour and making more music.
A hearing on Katherine Jackson’s intervention motion is scheduled for April 19. Her son died from an overdose death on June 25, 2009, at age 50.
–City News Service