Re: UK преса / Фен клубове / Музикални / Michael Jackson

Значи и Майкъл трябва да се появи в съда... Интересно дали ще намери време за Берлин в този случай...

Mr. Jackson's coming to town

By Karen White / Senior Times Writer

SANTA MARIA -- "A deal is a deal," said an attorney for Michael Jackson, at the start of a trial Tuesday in which the superstar entertainer is charged in a contract dispute.

It fails to be a deal when the entertainer backs out, countered the lawyer representing German concert promoter Marcel Avram.

Avram is seeking $21.2 million in advanced expenses, charging Jackson failed to appear for two planned millennium concerts the last day of 1999. Jackson's side said Avram "blinked first," after the financial failure of two earlier charity concerts.

Jackson is slated to testify today through Friday. Avram testified late Tuesday, talking about his past and his work as a promoter. He will also return to the witness stand today.

The trial is being held in Santa Maria because Jackson's official home is his Neverland Ranch near Los Olivos. A northern Santa Barbara County jury of eight women and four men are considering the case, with Santa Maria Superior Court Zel Canter presiding.

The case will continue into December.

The long-debated trial lurched into session Tuesday, as opening statements, planned for 9:30 a.m., began at 1:30 p.m. after a series of legal challenges to the opening by Co-counsels for Jackson, Zia Modabber and Steve Cochran. Louis "Skip" Miller, with associates, representing Avram. The attorneys are from Los Angeles.

A juror could also be replaced. The woman juror notified Canter her aunt had died and she wanted to attend the Friday afternoon funeral in Solvang.

Whether or not she can go will depend on how the testimony of Jackson progresses, Canter said.

"We will decide Friday morning," she was told.

She could be replaced by one of the four alternates or the entire court could recess early Friday.

Canter blocked Miller from using blow-ups of what he calls the "two most important documents" in his case, two letters from Avram to Jackson. One, written on Oct. 8, 1999, is a first mention of the cancellation of the concert, he said.

Miller had to exclude them from his opening, but may be allowed to present them later.

The key issue, according to opening statements, was "who canceled" the plans for the concerts.

Both sides accuse the other in what is termed a commercial business dispute.

"It is pretty straight forward," Miller said of the case. He said that Jackson alleges he got a phone call from Avram, telling him the concerts were canceled, but Avram said he never made the call.

In January 1999 the two men signed a contract agreeing to two charity concerts, in Korea and Germany, then the two millennium concerts, in Sydney, Australia and Honolulu, with Jackson to be paid $15 million.

The two charity concerts took place, but were not financially successful because the expenses were too high, according to Miller.

Modabber argued that a "deal is a deal" despite the "risks and rewards."

He showed the original contract, and a second revised contract signed by the two men. The contracts state that Avram will take the risk by financing the concerts.

He said the evidence will show that Avram first postponed the millennium concerts when he realized he "could not live up to the huge promise ($15 million) to Mr. Jackson."

It is clear in the writings, Modabber said, stressing that Avram was an experienced businessman who wrote his own contracts.

And the contracts state that modifications can only come in writing, with the signatures of both men. This did not happen, Modabber said, even though Avram proposed chances in the deal with several letters.

"Avram's letters are not the contact in this case ... the contracts show who is supposed to pay," Modabber said.

And finally he asked "what was Jackson's motivation to cancel" with the promise of a $15 million payoff for the "biggest show in his life guaranteed."

Jackson spent the millennium relaxing at his Neverland Ranch, his attorney said, having left the recording studio only weeks before.