After five contentious months in the courtroom, it took jurors three days of deliberations to rule against the Jackson family on Wednesday in its wrongful death civil suit.
Jackson’s mother and three children filed the civil suit in 2010 against the pop star’s concert promoter for his comeback tour, AEG Live, claiming that the company was negligent for hiring Dr. Conrad Murray, which lead to Jackson’s death from a drug overdose in June 2009. Murray told investigators that he was treating Jackson for insomnia with a surgical anesthetic, for which he has served almost two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Here was the main point of contention between the two parties during the trial, according to CNN:
“The company’s lawyers contended Jackson chose Murray, who had treated him for three years as a family physician, but Jackson lawyers argued the promoters chose to negotiate their own contract with the doctor so they could control him.”
The jury sided with AEG Live, ruling the company was not liable for Jackson’s death. The Jacksons had been seeking $85 million from AEG Live for each of the star’s three children for emotional loss as well as an unspecified amount for economic losses, estimated to be up to $1.6 billion, according to AFP.
