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http://vallieegirl67.com/2013/03/12/michael-jackson-agents-contract-suit-hangs-by-thread/
Michael Jackson Agent’s Contract Suit Hangs By Thread
Source: Law 360 – By Ciaran McEvoy
Los Angeles (March 12, 2013, 3:34 PM ET) — A California judge on Tuesday indicated he will likely throw out former Michael Jackson manager Freddy DeMann’s lawsuit over commissions from the posthumous repackaging of the pop star’s work, saying the suit is barred because DeMann never filed a creditor’s claim against the singer’s estate.
At a Tuesday hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff said he was strongly leaning toward dismissing DeMann’s complaint without leave to amend because “the case requires a creditor’s claim.”
Judge Beckloff expressed doubts as to whether DeMann could file a late creditor’s claim, given how much time has passed in the litigation.
California Probate Code Section 9000 requires a creditor to file a claim within four months of the appointment of an estate’s executors. It defines a claim as a demand for payment “whether due, not due, accrued or not accrued, or contingent, and whether liquidated or unliquidated.”
But DeMann’s attorney Stephen M. Lowe said he could not have made a demand for payment at the time of Jackson’s death because the contracts for the video game and other posthumous reuses of the singer’s work did not exist yet.
“You shouldn’t allow a technical defect — if there is even a defect — to block the allowance of a cause of action,” Lowe said at Tuesday’s hearing.
Jeryll S. Cohen, a lawyer representing Jackson estate executors John G. Branca and John McClain, said DeMann “should have put the estate on notice and filed a creditors claim.”
DeMann was Jackson’s manager from 1978 to 1983, a period that included the release of two massively popular albums, “Off the Wall” and “Thriller.” According Jackson and DeMann’s 1978 contract, DeMann was granted the right to a commission from the sales of those two albums, among other things, according to DeMann’s opposition to the estate’s demurrer, filed Feb. 27.
Since Jackson’s death in 2009, the estate has negotiated contracts with Sony Corp., Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Cirque du Soleil to reuse the songs Jackson created under DeMann’s management, according to court papers. DeMann alleges that the estate is wrongfully withholding his commissions since Jackson’s death.
DeMann sued for his commissions, but on Jan. 14, Judge Beckloff dismissed the complaint, ruling DeMann failed to file a creditor’s claim. Nine days later, DeMann filed an amended complaint, which the estate’s lawyers argued merely repeated the allegations in his previous lawsuit.
DeMann Entertainment is represented by Bert H. Deixler and Ashlee L. Hansen of Kendall Brill & Klieger LLP and Stephen M. Lowe, Jared A. Barry and Thomas C. Aikin of Freeman Freeman & Smiley LLP.
Branca and McClain are represented by Howard L. Weitzman and Jeremiah T. Reynolds of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP, Zia F. Modabber of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, and Jeryll S. Cohen of Hoffman Sabban & Watenmaker APC.
The case is DeMann Entertainment Inc. v. John Branca et al., case number SC114598, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.
–Additional reporting by Matthew Heller. Editing by Kat Laskowski.
http://www.law360.com/commercialcon...jackson-agent-s-contract-suit-hangs-by-thread
