Michael Jackson trial: AEG email could bolster family's case

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Michael Jackson fans from left, Karlene Taylor, Yvonne Francis, Latrenda White and Jamie Lee, speak out against AEG Live. A jury found Wednesday that AEG Live was not liable in the death of the pop superstar. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Jury foreman Gregg Barden, center, listens to a reporter’s question about their verdict in the civil trial over the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson and three grandchildren against AEG Live in the death of singer Michael Jackson. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos gathers the verdict documents moments before they were publicly disclosed. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Attorneys for Katherine Jackson, Deborah Chang, left and Kevin Boyle listen as jurors are polled following the verdict in the civil trial that lasted for five months. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam smiles during verdict polling at the conclusion of the Katherine Jackson v. AEG Live civil trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The jury found AEG not liable in Michael Jackson’s death. AEG attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina is at left. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, left, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, speaks with Kathryn Cahan and Marvin Putnam, attorneys with AEG Live LLC ,in Los Angeles County Superior Court in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death trial Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Bailiffs are sworn in to protect the jury as Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, waits during the trial in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday. The singer’s family has sued the entertainment firm AEG Live LLC, saying the company negligently hired and supervised Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered the dose of propofol that killed the singer. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, an attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in a packed courtroom in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 24. The promoters of Michael Jackson’s last tour were “so excited” about making huge profits that they hired an unfit doctor to care for the star, his family’s lawyer said. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Marvin Putnam, lead attorney for AEG Live LLC and co-counsel Jessica Stebbins-Bina, listen to closing arguments by Michael Jackson family’s attorney, Brian Panish, in a packed courtroom Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live LLC on Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam gives closing arguments in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 25. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos listens to a rebuttal argument in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 26. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s former wife and mother of two of his children, leaves Los Angeles County Superior Court after testifying at the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, against AEG Live. (Nick Ut / Associated Press)

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Television crews report live outside Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles on the first day of the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit. (Joe Klamar / AFP/Getty Images)

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In this file photo dated Sept. 27, 2011, Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson arrives outside Los Angeles County Superior Court to hear opening statement in the involuntary manslaughter trial of pop superstar Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Murray was convicted and sentenced to prison. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)

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Singer Janet Jackson, left, Paris Katherine Jackson, Prince Michael Jackson II and LaToya Jackson are seen on stage during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

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Entertainer Michael Jackson announces on March 5, 2009, that he will play a series of comeback concerts at the London O2 Arena in July. Jackson died before the concerts could be held. (Joel Ryan / Associated Press)

By Jeff Gottlieb

May 23, 2013 1:41 PM PT

An AEG executive sent an email shortly before Michael Jackson died, saying the firm had requested a meeting with his doctor “to remind him that it is AEG, not MJ who is paying his salary. We want him to understand what is expected of him.”

The email was shown to the jury Thursday in the wrongful death suit filed by Jackson’s mother and children against Anschutz Entertainment Group, the promoter and producer of his ill-fated “This Is It” concert series in London.

A key issue in the lawsuit is who employed Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered Jackson the fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol. The email appears to boost the Jackson family’s case that Murray was employed by AEG and, therefore, his loyalty was to the firm. It was shown during the fourth day of testimony by Shawn Trell, AEG Live’s senior vice president and legal counsel.

FULL COVERAGE: AEG-Jackson wrongful death trial

AEG says that Jackson hired Murray and that any payments it was supposed to give the doctor were advances to the singer.

But Trell testified Thursday that negotiations about Murray’s contract were between the doctor and AEG and that neither Jackson nor his representatives saw the three or four drafts.

“You could have said Mr. Jackson, ‘We believe something as personal as hiring a doctor, you should hire your own doctor with your own money,’ ” asked Brian Panish, one of the Jackson’s attorneys.

“Yes,” Trell replied.

Panish asked him if anything stopped the firm from telling Jackson to negotiate a deal with Murray and then advance him the money, as it had for production costs and to pay for the cost of Jackson’s mansion.

“Nothing,” Trell replied.

Murray was supposed to receive $150,000 a month, but AEG never paid him. Murray signed the contract the day before Jackson died in June 2009. Neither AEG nor the singer signed it.

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Twitter: @gottliebjeff

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