Today the Beverly Hills Courier published an update on the ongoing legal action brought by collector Richard LaPointe against MJJ Productions, Julien’s Auctions, and others. Per the article, Michael Jackson’s estate will sell LaPointe 64 of the 80+ items under dispute, which were pulled from public auction in 2009 when the entire sale was canceled following a settlement between MJJ Productions and Julien’s Auctions in their own legal dispute.
The full article can be found at www.bhcourier.com (“Portions of Michael Jackson’s Memorabilia Lawsuit Settled“):
As reported in past Original Prop Blog articles, LaPointe’s lawsuit was filed late 2009. He was one of the bidders in the “Collection of Michael Jackson” auction, who claims to have placed online bids prior to the auction being canceled following the settlement between MJJ Productions and Julien’s Auction House in the prior lawsuit between the two parties who are now co-defendants in LaPointe’s complaint.
Richard Lapointe filed suit against Julien’s Auctions and Darren Julien (along with several aliases), MJJ Productions, Tohme R. Tohme (President of MJJ Productions), Administrators of the Estate of Michael Jackson, and 100 unnamed defendants.
In the original complaint, filed with the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles, Lapointe sought either the items on which he had placed online absentee bids or $5 million dollars plus damages.
The Beverly Hills Courier now reports that Jackson’s estate has agreed to sell LaPointe the 64 items for which he was the only bidder at the time of the cancellation of the bids and withdrawal of all lots in the sale. The article further reports that the pending jury trial will still take place to resolve the “allegations of intentional interference with contractual relations and breach of contract against Julien’s Auction House“.
Past Original Prop Blog articles published on this and related matters can be found via the link below:
The Original Prop Blog will continue to monitor the case for further developments.
Jason DeBord