Judge dismisses Michael Jackson's $10 million lawsuit
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge tossed out Michael Jackson's $10 million lawsuit against a New Jersey man over memorabilia the pop star claimed had been stolen.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit Michael Jackson filed against Henry Vaccaro because he stopped pursuing it two years ago.
By Michael Mariant, AP
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday because Jackson had stopped pursuing the case he filed two years ago, according to court papers.
Calls to Jackson's spokeswoman and a lawyer for Henry Vaccaro seeking comment weren't immediately returned Wednesday night.
Vaccaro had a warehouse full of memorabilia from Jackson family members that included gold-trimmed costumes, financial documents, letters, awards and one of Michael Jackson's first outfits worn with the Jackson 5.
At one point, Vaccaro's lawyer, Edgar Pease III, alleged the items also included gold records and personal items including skin bleach, soiled underwear, sexual videotapes, sexual paraphernalia and a hand-drawn picture by Jackson of a 7-year-old boy.
A lawyer for Jackson at the time said the singer never claimed the bleach, sexual materials, underwear or picture were his.
Vaccaro, an Asbury Park construction company owner, said he was awarded the memorabilia after years of legal wrangling stemming from a failed business venture that wound up in bankruptcy court.
He took items that had been in an Oxnard storage facility but were sold during the bankruptcy proceeding involving Jackson family members.
Vaccaro posted the items on a pay-per-view website about Michael Jackson.
The singer sued, saying some of the items still belonged to him and Vaccaro only had a right to property belonging to his brothers, Tito and Jermaine, and their parents. He got a court order barring Vaccaro from displaying or selling the items until the case was resolved.
However, Vaccaro said that before the order was issued he had shipped some memorabilia to a European buyer who had paid more than $1.4 million.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-01-05-jackson-lawsuit_x.htm
How it all started:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=127993&page=1
A S B U R Y P A R K, N.J., March 4
In a strange twist of fate, a New Jersey businessman
hit the music world's jackpot — a warehouse stuffed
with the King of Pop's personal belongings — and he
got it for a song.
Henry Vaccaro said he never expected to get caught
up in a legal battle with Michael Jackson's family. But
he did, and in the end, he wound up with Jackson
memorabilia that could be worth a small fortune.
Vaccaro says his story with the Jackson family began
back in 1993, when, he says, the Jackson family failed
to follow through on a deal to buy Vaccaro's guitar
company. Vaccaro said the family never paid him what
they owed, and after years in the courtroom, the items
of memorabilia became the focus of the legal drama.
Vaccaro says he managed to get the entire
warehoused Jackson collection — thousands of items
— after the Jackson family failed to pay a $60,000 bill
for the storage of the items. Vaccaro said he picked
up the bill, and the case with the Jackson family was
settled as he became the owner of the family's
memorabilia. The deal of a lifetime left a complete
stranger owning the Jackson family's personal
history.
‘Largest Private Collection’
"It's pretty big. It's the largest private collection in the
world of Michael Jackson and Jackson family
memorabilia," Vaccaro said on ABCNEWS' Good
Morning America. "Well, you know, it's crazy … how
they could let a complete stranger get all their
personal possessions?" Vaccaro's enormous
collection had been displayed in a 6,000-square-foot
section of a 50,000-square-foot warehouse. But the
collection — which was only seen by outsiders on
jacksonvault.com, a pay-per-view Web site — is on its
way out of the United States, according to Vaccaro.
The collection has been sold to a mysterious
overseas buyer, and will be shipped out of the
country in just a matter of days Why didn't Michael
Jackson, the wealthiest and most famous member of
the musical family, step in and stop this? According
to the pop star's spokesperson, Michael Jackson was
shocked to find out that the warehouse contained
some of his most personal items. J
ackson says he
only gave his family permission to use this
memorabilia for a theme restaurant they supposedly
planned on opening. Jackson wasn't directly involved
in this legal battle, and he says he now wants to buy
back his family's treasured possessions, according to
his spokesperson. Vaccaro says the collection
includes Jackson family costumes, including one of
Michael Jackson's earliest stage costumes with his
name handwritten on the inside label. Vaccaro also
has a photo of a young Jackson wearing that very
costume.
Surprising and Private Items
While Vaccaro says he was excited to see the
costumes and the gold and platinum records that
came with the collection, he says he was surprised by
the inclusion of very personal items — such as
sketches, notes and a medical contract for surgery
supposedly performed on Janet Jackson's nose. "Yes,
we have that contract … and I think Michael paid for
the first plastic surgery," Vaccaro said. Vaccaro said
he also found another nose-related item in the
collection — a sketchbook that contained several
drawings of noses of various shapes and sizes.
Vaccaro also revealed sketches that he claims were
signed by Michael Jackson. One is a sketch of a boy,
titled "Little Boy 1994"; another is a sketch of Charlie
Chaplin. ABCNEWS checked with some handwriting
experts on the signatures on some of the items. Not
Michael Jackson's History Sold for a Song
Pop Star’s History Sold for a Song Following Family’s Legal Drama
all of them agreed on whether Michael Jackson signed
some of the items. Vaccaro said he was also surprised
by personal letters sent by the Jackson parents. "A lot
of intimate letters going back and forth," Vaccaro
said. "I mean, you know, there's a letter from Joe
Jackson to the producers of the Victory Tour book,
where he approved the photographs of his children,
but he wanted their skin tones to be 20 to 30 percent
lighter in the finished product. That surprised me.
"There's also a letter from Mrs. Jackson complaining
to the Jehovah's Witness Fellowship, because
evidently they must have expelled Michael, and you
know, she's really giving them hell," Vaccaro said.
The New Jersey businessman says Michael Jackson's
legal problems only increased the value of the
collection. "It bought attention back to it because the
initial sale had fallen apart, and then it was
resurrected with his problems," Vaccaro said. Jackson
was charged in December with seven counts of lewd
or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and two
counts of giving the child an "intoxicating agent,"
reportedly wine, between Feb. 7 and March 10, 2003.
Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Vaccaro wouldn't say what his buyer paid for the
collection, but he told ABCNEWS that he did very well.
ABCNEWS' Eric Avram and Gary Wynn contributed to
this Good Morning America report.
