MJ Judge Dismisses
AEG Execs

Judge Yvette Palazuelos issued a ruling Sept. 9 throwing out the case against the two execs, but the company remains a defendant, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Phillips and Gongaware are key witnesses at the trial, and both have spent several days on the stand.

Emails between the two, and music director Kenny Ortega, have been the focus of much testimony during the trial, now entering its fifth month.

Katherine Jackson and her three grandchildren sued AEG Live, Phillips and Gongaware for negligence in the hiring and supervision of Conrad Murray, the former doctor now serving time for his role in Michael Jackson’s June 2009 death.

The company says Jackson hired Murray, with money advanced by AEG Live serving as an advance to the superstar.

“This is a huge victory for Phillips and Gongaware after enduring more than four months of a trial that they never should have been subjected to,” said Marvin Putnam of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, lead trial counsel for the defendants in the lawsuit.  “The Jacksons have besmirched their reputations and dragged their good names through the mud without any basis whatsoever.  Phillips and Gongaware should never have been sued in the first place.  They are vindicated now that the Court has thrown out the case against them.”