Cases

Four people claimed that Michael Jackson promised them 15% of The Michael Jackson Company in a middle-of-the-night meeting in 2006.  After a long bench trial, the probate court rejected those claims on multiple grounds and confirmed that Jackson wholly owned the company.

The Court of Appeal affirmed.  Agreeing with GMSR’s arguments on behalf of the Jackson estate, the court held that the claimants forfeited their factual arguments by failing to accurately describe the evidence in their opening brief; that the claimants forfeited all arguments raised for the first time in their reply brief; and that the probate court correctly found that Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2’s statute of limitations for claims against a decedent barred the ownership claims.

Case Briefs

• California Court of Appeal Opinion - View Document