Michael Jackson Concert Promoter Drops $17.5M Lawsuit

By Andrew Lu on September 12, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

AEG has dropped its lawsuit against insurance company Lloyds of London to collect on its $17.5 million insurance policy for Michael Jackson's "This is It" tour.

AEG was the concert promoter behind the ill-fated "This is It" and had taken out the insurance policy to protect itself should anything happen to Jackson or derail the tour. When Jackson died just prior to the tour, AEG sought to collect on the insurance plan.

But not so fast. Lloyds of London claimed in a counter lawsuit that AEG hid known problems with Michael Jackson that put the tour in jeopardy and so the insurance policy was void as full disclosure was not made, reports CNN.

Last week, internal AEG emails were released that supported Lloyds of London's position, and now AEG has dropped its lawsuit to collect on the insurance. AEG says that the emails had nothing to do with their decision to drop the lawsuit, reports CNN.

In the emails, AEG executives reportedly wrote to each other expressing their concerns that the concert tour would actually get off the ground. In one email, the president of AEG describes Jackson as "drunk and despondent" and said that he tried to sober Jackson up by "screaming at him so loud the walls are shaking," reports CNN. The president goes on to add that Jackson is an "emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time."

Yet, two months later, AEG's president made a public statement that Jackson was "as healthy as he can be -- no health problems whatsoever" in response to rumors that Jackson's health threatened the concert, reports CNN.

If AEG had known that Michael Jackson was sick and that the tour was in trouble, it may have fraudulently entered the insurance policy, as Lloyds of London claimed in their counter suit. Instead of fighting out the lawsuit in court, AEG agreed to drop its lawsuit in exchange for Lloyds of London dropping its counter suit.

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