Quincy Jones sues Michael Jackson’s estate over royalties

So when is the deadline to file an appeal?

One thing I found interesting is Weisman statement that when an audit confirmed Jones was owned around $ 400,000, an amount which according to him is usually settled for $ 600,000, the estate was willing to give him 2 to 3 millions as a settlement. on the other hand when another audit found that MJ was cheated out of 30 million by Sony, the estate settled for 6 million only. It does always seem that the estate has corporations' interest before MJ's. I come to believe that Branca in every decision he makes he takes into consideration the interests of his law firm (the biggest entertainment law firm in the world) over mj because the corporations are his clients plus MJ is dead so he cannot say a thing. Not like conflict of interest was a problem to him even when mj was alive. Colony, AEG, and Sony. Did not Zia Mudaber lose the Avram case? He was also MJ's lawyer in 1993. Every time these guys lose a case, I thank God for throwing T Mez in MJ's way.
 
Seemingly it is not over yet
Future Hearings

09/22/2017 at 08:30 am in Department 62 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Motion for New Trial(JNOV)
 
Seemingly it is not over yet
Future Hearings

09/22/2017 at 08:30 am in Department 62 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Motion for New Trial(JNOV)

I know only 20% of appeals are succsesful in general but I hope this belongs to the 20%.
 
Quincy Jones reflects on his career and relationship with Michael Jackson http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-quincy-jones-bowl-20170905-story.html

Quincy Jones turned 84 in March, but said he feels like he’s 18.

“I stopped drinking two years ago. I feel like I’m just starting, man — it’s unbelievable. I come up with Ray Charles and Sinatra, so you know I knew how to do it,” he said, laughing, in a recent phone interview.

On Wednesday Jones’ early jazz albums will be celebrated at the Hollywood Bowl. “Quincy Jones: The A&M Years” will find an all-star lineup jamming through songs from “Walking in Space” (1969), “Gula Matari” (1970) and “Smackwater Jack” (1971).

Original session musicians Hubert Laws and Valerie Simpson will be joined by Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, Lewis Nash and others under the direction of Christian McBride and conductor John Clayton.

Part faithful homage, part improvised reinterpretation, the show was originally conceived by Tim Jackson, artistic director of the Monterey Jazz Festival where it premiered last September.

The albums were a concentrated burst of creativity for Jones, then newly signed to A&M Records, who had just spent the previous decade scoring around 20 films including “In the Heat of the Night” and “In Cold Blood.”

“It was some amazing years, because I said, ‘Man, I don’t want to know about synchronization for a year. I just want to get in there and roll with my favorite musicians,’” Jones said. “I just want to play with my brothers.”

The winner of 27 Grammys from a whopping 79 nominations, Jones has crafted his legend as much from assembling the best musicians in the same room as he has being a performer and arranger. The A&M albums feature some of his best-known compositions (themes for the TV series “Ironside” and “The Bill Cosby Show”) and arrangements (“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Killer Joe”), but they also demonstrate his knack for playing host to premium musical dinner parties.

“Ray Brown and Grady Tate had never played together until Quincy Jones brought them together for that recording,” said composer/conductor Clayton. “But also, combining people like Freddie Hubbard with Roland Kirk and Hubert Laws — those combinations didn’t happen very often, if at all. You [can] understand the flavor of why musicians are so excited about those records.”

The eclectic lineup also included Toots Thielemans on harmonica — “Toots was the same level as Charlie Parker, man,” Jones said — and Paul Beaver on synthesizer. Jones was an early adopter of synths, and wrote his “Ironside” theme (which appeared on “Smackwater Jack”) for the nascent Moog.

“Robert Moog said to me, ‘Quincy, why don’t the brothers use my instrument?’” he recalled. “I said, “’Cause, man, number one: we sculpt an electronic signal into a sine wave that’s smooth, or a sawtooth, which is rough. The problem with it, though, is it doesn’t bend. And if it doesn’t bend, it can’t get funky. And if it can’t get funky, brother, you don’t touch it.’ So he came up with a pitch-bender and a portamento on it ... and I got it, real quick.”

Jones is a musical Zelig, starting out in the big band era before time-traveling through bebop, jazz, funk, hip-hop and rap. That means, with some exceptions, he doesn’t have an instantly identifiable “sound” — but according to Clayton, that’s also his strength.

“I always think [of Jones as an] artistic sponge who delivers,” said Clayton. “Not only does he soak in anything of interest — whether it’s jazz, blues, latin music, pop music, funk ... you name it — if he’s interested, he’s going to put his hand in it and learn it.”

Jones met his most successful protege around the time he recorded these albums, a 12-year-old Michael Jackson. A few years later, he produced Jackson’s first solo album, “Off the Wall,” and then the highest-selling album of all time: “Thriller.” They fell out after releasing “Bad” in 1989 because — Jones lamented — Jackson felt the producer was old and out-of-touch.

In July, Jones won a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate for $9.4 million in damages for unpaid royalties, largely from the concert film “This Is It,” which was released in 2009 after Jackson died. In a statement, Jones said the suit “was never about Michael,” and in the interview for this article he reiterated that and further clarified that it wasn’t about the family either.

“The family wants to do business with me,” he said. “Jermaine [Jackson, Michael’s brother] called me right after we announced the lawsuit and said, ‘The family is 100% behind you.’”

Jones placed the blame squarely on the lawyers for Jackson’s estate.

“After Michael died, Frank [DiLeo, Jackson’s late manager] took over totally, and on ‘This Is It’ he did not even give me credit for producing Michael’s songs on that, man. I produced Michael’s biggest hits ... and they made $500 million on ‘This Is It.’ The family got $90 million. He got $50 million and tried to talk me into $450,000. I said, ‘No, baby, you got that wrong.’ ... Because we work our [butts] off to make records, man.”

Howard Weitzman, who represents the estate of Michael Jackson and who has been quoted as saying he plans to appeal the $9.4-million decision, sent a strongly worded rebuttal to Jones’ comments.

“Mr. Jones wasn’t cheated out of any money because he was paid what he was contractually owed for producing the songs recorded by Michael 25 to 30 years ago that were used in the documentary ‘This Is It,’ which he had nothing to do with,” Weitzman wrote.

“The allegation that Frank DiLeo got $50 million dollars in royalties from ‘This Is It’ is … false. He was not paid any royalties from the film — period. As for the beneficiaries of Michael’s will, they were not supportive of Mr. Jones’ lawsuit against the Estate.”

Jones said he and Jackson were in a good place before the singer died at age 50.

“He wanted us to get back together,” said Jones. “But we were close, man. Always close. You can’t do those kind of records without love, trust and respect. You can’t do it.”

Jones will attend Wednesday night’s concert — and even though his name isn’t on the lineup, Clayton said “Q” may even jump in.

“He probably will want to be on the sidelines, or even sitting on the stage, just because he loves to be so close to the actual music-making,” said Clayton, whom Jones affectionately calls “Dirty Drawers” in the old bebop tradition. “But I also know that the band is going to be so smoking that he’ll probably want to have a taste of it. He’ll probably want to come up and conduct one of his pieces — which would be great.”

The opening act will be two artists Jones has recently taken under his wing: Cameroon bassist Richard Bona and Swedish keyboardist Jonah Nilsson (of Dirty Loops). In addition to fostering new musical talents, the producer said he has 10 films, six albums and four Broadway shows in the works.

Asked whether he still gets the same rush from new music, his answer was immediate.

“Hell yeah,” Jones said. “More.”
 
Michael Jackson Estate Expects New Trial in ‘Next Couple of Months’ in Dispute With Quincy Jones

By http://variety.com/2017/music/news/...-trial-quincy-jones-couple-months-1202548838/

VENICE, Italy – As expected, the Michael Jackson estate is appealing the verdict which in July awarded $9.4 million to music producer Quincy Jones in damages for allegedly unpaid royalties. John Branca, co-executor of the late singer’s estate, expects the case to go back in front of a jury “in the next couple of months.”

In an interview with Variety during the Venice Film Festival, where a new 3-D version of the 1983 “Thriller” video directed by John Landis world-premiered Monday, Branca said that “fairly serious errors were made in the trial.”

“So they are going to seek to overturn the judgment and then appeal it,” he added. Branca also specified that this action is the domain of the estate’s chief attorney, Howard Weitzman.

“We’ve always tried to pay Quincy fairly, and he should be,” Branca said. “His work with Michael was incredible…So he deserves to be paid fairly. And he [was].”

The verdict in Quincy’s favor, in a Los Angeles County Superior Court on July 26, revolved around alleged breach of contract over agreements signed in the 1970s and ’80s, when Jones and Jackson worked on three records – “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” – which collectively have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. Jones said during the trial that the master recordings for those albums were improperly remixed to deprive him of royalties and production fees that he was entitled to.

The dispute largely concerns profits from the concert film “This Is It,” the world’s highest-grossing concert film.

The Jackson estate says that an accounting error did cause Jones to miss out on some royalties, but put that figure at roughly $392,000 – a tiny fraction of both the $30 million that the producer sought and the $9.4 million that the jury ultimately awarded him.

“What you had there was a jury trying to understand fairly complicated recording contract provisions and accounting provisions that, quite frankly, both without a law school education and years in the music business, most people would find difficult to understand. So that appeal is being processed,” said Branca, who predicted that the case will be “back in front of a jury in the next couple of months.”
 
Well, good luck with finding a jury with both a law school education AND years of experience in the music business. Lol. I do find the award unfair, though.
 
Well, good luck with finding a jury with both a law school education AND years of experience in the music business. Lol. I do find the award unfair, though.

I don`t think they wanted a jury to decide about the amounts of what is to pay, if something is to pay.
 
An appeal takes at least a year, and jury verdicts are very hard to overturn. I'd be surprised if they can turn around in a couple of months if at all.
 
An appeal takes at least a year, and jury verdicts are very hard to overturn. I'd be surprised if they could turn around in a couple of months if at all.
 
Judge OKs Quincy Jones millions for ‘This is It,’ Michael Jackson projects

A judge Friday upheld a jury’s award of $9.4 million to Quincy Jones in his lawsuit against a company created by Michael Jackson before his death

In its July 26 verdict, the panel found that the Grammy Award-winning music producer was entitled to royalties for the use of the singer’s recordings that the plaintiff helped produce and which were later used in the film “This is It” and other projects.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern found that the jury’s conclusions were reasonable based on the evidence.

However, the judge denied Jones’ request for an additional $3.3 million in prejudgment interest, noting that there was a significant disparity between the $30 million Jones sought and what was awarded.

Jones, 84, sued MJJ Productions Inc., now part of Jackson’s estate, in October 2013.

In deciding that the defense was not entitled to judgment despite the verdict, Stern wrote in a one-page ruling that the jury took into account a four-decade relationship between Jones and Jackson and found that the plaintiff was entitled to joint venture profits, remix damages and other claims.

“The jury reviewed the contracts presented and provided its interpretation of the language therein,” Stern wrote.

“This is It” is a 2009 documentary that traces Jackson’s rehearsals and preparation for a series of London concerts that never happened. The singer had been preparing for the shows when he died in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009 of a drug overdose at age 50 — 18 days prior to the tour’s start date.



Jones said master recordings he worked on were wrongfully edited and remixed so as to deprive him of bonus profits. He also maintained that a 2009 joint venture between MJJ and Sony should have increased his royalties share and that he was denied credit for his contribution on the singer’s works released after his death.

Jones made agreements with Jackson in 1978 and 1985 for work on the singer’s solo albums, in which the producer claims he was to be given first opportunity to re-edit or remix any of the master recordings.

He also said the coupling of master recordings with other recordings required his permission, and that he was to be given producer credit for each of the master recordings.

Lawyers for Jones argued that their client was entitled to $30 million, but defense attorneys said he should be paid no more than $392,000.

Lawyer Zia Modabber, who argued on behalf of MJJ Productions, said Jones never owned Jackson’s master recordings. He said after Friday’s hearing that although he was disappointed with Stern’s decision not to grant judgment in favor of the defense, he understands that judges do not like to disturb jury verdicts.

Lawyer Howard Weitzman, also representing MJJ Productions, said previously that the hundreds of millions of dollars the Jackson estate executors have accumulated since the singer’s death have benefited the entertainer’s three children; his mother, Katherine Jackson; and various charities.
 
Not familiar with the legal procedures, but can the estate still appeal depsite the judges ruling or is that it?
 
I think a appeal can not be decided from the same judge who handles the trial. This would be strange.
 
Not familiar with the legal procedures, but can the estate still appeal depsite the judges ruling or is that it?

yes they can still appeal

I think a appeal can not be decided from the same judge who handles the trial. This would be strange.

Appeals are overseen at appellate court. Different court, different judges.
 
Quincy Jones Loses $6.9 Million on Michael Jackson Verdict Appeal

An appellate court ruled on Tuesday that the Michael Jackson estate does not have to pay $6.9 million in royalties and fees to Quincy Jones.

The three-judge panel of the 2nd Appellate District overturned the bulk of a 2017 jury verdict, finding that the trial judge had allowed the jury to misinterpret Jones’ contract.

Jones’ attorneys had argued that the producer was entitled to some $30 million in royalties and other income derived from the “This Is It” concert film, two Cirque du Soleil shows and other revenue streams that followed Jackson’s death in 2009. After a two-week trial, the jurors awarded Jones $9.4 million.

But on Tuesday, the appeals court took most of it back, saying that Judge Michael L. Stern had erred by not interpreting the contract himself, and instead leaving it up to the jurors.

After Jackson’s death, his estate negotiated an increased share of profits through a joint venture with Sony, going from 50% to two-thirds. Jones’ attorneys argued at trial that he was entitled under his producer contract to a proportional increase in royalties. The jury agreed, granting Jones $5.3 million in joint venture profits.

But the appeals court ruled that Jones’ producer contracts did not entitle him to such an increase.

“The language of section 4(a) cannot be tortured to mean that Jones’s maximum royalty rate increased proportionally if Jackson’s maximum royalty rate increased,” wrote Justice Judith Ashmann-Gerst, on behalf of a unanimous panel.

The court also vacated an award of $1.6 million in remix fees, which Jones claimed he was owed. Jones’ contract gave him first right of refusal on remixes of his Jackson albums, which he was not afforded. But the panel held he was not entitled to be paid fees for remixing work that he did not perform.

“The only compensation Jones was entitled to receive was royalties from record sales on remixes, and the evidence indicates he received them,” Ashmann-Gerst wrote. “If he wanted remixing fees, he had to negotiate them in separate agreements.”

The court left in place the remaining $2.6 million awarded to Jones, which consisted of unpaid license fees from “This Is It,” plus other fees and interest.

Jones had also appealed two of Stern’s rulings that went against him. His attorneys argued he should have been allowed to claim elder abuse, and should have been awarded interest on a greater portion of the damages award. Those appeals were both denied.

https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/quincy-jones-loses-michael-jackson-appeal-1234598433/
 
Let's hope this is just the first of four - HBO and R & S to follow! (I wonder if Jones will need to pay any of the costs?)
A bit more detail here:

Quincy Jones' $9.4M Win in Michael Jackson Royalty Suit Wiped Out by Appeals Court

A California appeals court has ruled that a trial judge overseeing Quincy Jones' fight for more royalties for his work producing Michael Jackson records didn't adequately interpret contracts. As a result, the superstar producer's $9.4 million win three years ago has been reversed.

Jones originally sought $30 million for projects made after Michael Jackson's death including remixes of hit songs as well as the licensing of masters for This Is It. After a trial in 2017, the jury returned a verdict that Jones was entitled to nearly $1.6 million because he didn't get a right to participate in those remixes, an additional $5.3 million in joint venture profits, nearly $2 million more for This Is It and $180,000 for foreign public performance income.

But should the case have even gone to jury?

The appeals court rules that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judge Michael L. Stern should have looked at extrinsic evidence about the contract to make a preliminary determination about the meaning of Jones' producer contracts. Only when the contracts were reasonably susceptible to at least two interpretations and there was enough conflict in the evidence should the contractual interpretation be put to a jury.

"The trial court did not perform these judicial functions; instead, it allowed the jury to act in a judicial capacity," states the opinion.

As for the correct interpretation of the contracts, the appeals court proceeds to take its own look at the extrinsic evidence and comes to the conclusion that nothing Jones' side has put forward negates how Jones was due anymore than a 10 percent royalty rate on record sales. The appeals court finds that this rate was fixed, there wasn't music experts testifying otherwise, and so forth. On the issue of joint venture profits, the opinion states, "The award of $5,315,787 must be reversed because it was based on the jury’s improper conclusion that: (1) the Producer Agreements entitled Jones to a share of net receipts for Master use licenses; and (2) the Producer Agreements entitled Jones to more than 10 percent of record sales if Sony increased Jackson’s basic royalty rate over time in the Recording Agreements."

The appeals court also concludes the producers agreements did not entitle Jones to fees for remixing masters and, alternatively, the remix damages were too speculative.

The case has been remanded to the trial judge who will now need to sharply slash the award based on Tuesday's decision.

Finally, the appeals court rejects a cross-appeal from Jones over the trial judge's refusal to allow him to move forward on a claim of financial elder abuse. It's ruled that the judge didn't abuse discretion by disallowing a belated attempt to assert this claim.

MJJ Productions was represented by a team at Kinsella Weitzman.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...n-royalty-suit-wiped-by-appeals-court-1293352

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and here:
.......Jones, who was already a music business giant when he produced the classic Jackson albums “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad,” had sought $30 million from the estate when he first filed the lawsuit in 2013.

“Quincy Jones was the last person we thought would try to take advantage of Michael Jackson by filing a lawsuit three years after he died asking for tens of millions of dollars he wasn’t entitled to,” Jackson attorney Howard Weitzman said in a statement. “We knew the verdict was wrong when we heard it, and the court of appeal has completely vindicated us.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...c64e46-8f0b-11ea-9322-a29e75effc93_story.html

and an additional comment from JB:

John Branca, co-executor of the estate, also issued a comment: “So many people have tried to take advantage of Michael and mischaracterize him since his death. It’s gratifying that in this case the court in an overwhelmingly favorable and just decision, recognizes that Michael Jackson was both an enormous talent and an extremely fair business executive.”

https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/quincy-jones-loses-michael-jackson-appeal-1234598433/

also:
“While we disagree with portions of the Court’s decision and are evaluating our options going forward, we are pleased that the Court affirmed the jury’s determination that MJJP failed to pay Quincy Jones more than $2.5 million (£2 million) that it owed him,” Jones’s attorney J. Michael Hennigan said in a statement.

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-05-06/court-slashes-award-to-michael-jacksons-producer/
 
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Does this mean they can create some 5.1 mixes of the Quincy produced music? Or am I mistaken in thinking that it is Quincy's apparent control of any remixes that has prevented it?
 
I wish, Quincy wouldn’t smear his own legacy with stuff like that. I really liked the man. You can tell how much he always loved what he did, and his work is phenomenal.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You know that the Estate is happy and gloating when they send out emails to let fans know the Estate won a lawsuit. LOL <a href="https://t.co/HzuQdHZKIt">pic.twitter.com/HzuQdHZKIt</a></p>&mdash; andjustice4some (@andjustice4some) <a href="https://twitter.com/andjustice4some/status/1257778787804045312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
I am glad now I am waiting on that low life HBO to pay and of course Wade/james to go down in flames
 
So what does this means? i don't hate QJ. the man has talent.

The Estate appealed the ruling that Quincy won the lawsuit, but the Estate won the appeal which means Q lost the appeal by the Estate. Serves Quincy right.
 
so this mansd quincyu dosnt get mo0ney?

He still gets money. he just lost some due to this case. I really don't see the big deal about this. QJ still gets money and MJ estate. so i'm with everyone else who says they really don't care about this case. I guess QJ wanted more money. he got enough money to last until he leaves this planet. and so do his kids.
 
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