August 20, 2010

By Associated Press

A federal judge has dismissed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by a concert promoter against the late Michael Jackson over a failed reunion concert that would have featured the Jackson Five and his sister Janet.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. granted a motion by lawyers on Aug. 19 for Jackson's estate to dismiss the case, citing a lack of evidence that the late King of Pop or his family were under a binding agreement to perform at a reunion concert.

AllGood Entertainment Inc., a company started in Morristown, N.J., sued Jackson for $40 million on June 10, 2009, roughly two weeks before the singer's death in Los Angeles at age 50. It claimed Jackson and his then-manager broke a contract for a Jackson reunion show.

AllGood later filed a creditor's claim with Jackson's estate, claiming the potential value of the lawsuit was at least $300 million.

Baer determined that there was a letter of intent between Jackson's then-manager, Frank DiLeo, and AllGood, but never an enforceable contract. He noted that neither Jackson nor any other members of the family who were to be involved in the show ever signed a contract.

Attorneys for Jackson's estate and DiLeo contended that if there was a breach in the contract, AllGood broke the agreement first because it did not issue a payment to Jackson before a required deadline. Baer wrote that there was no evidence that AllGood suffered substantial economic damage because of the failed concert.

"This case never had any merit and the claim was frivolous from day one," Jackson estate attorney Howard Weitzman said in a statement. "Michael Jackson never agreed to participate in a concert promoted by AllGood as the judge clearly found in his opinion."

An after-hours phone message left for AllGood's attorney, Ira Meyerowitz, was not immediately returned.

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