It’s hard to believe, but six and a half years after his tragic death, yet another court case involving Michael Jackson is going on right now in Los Angeles.
The case is billed as Qadree El-Amin vs. Michael Jackson Estate (John Branca, John McClain). Although she’s not named as a plaintiff, the person lurking behind this effort to extrude money from the Estate is Michael’s former p.r. lady and “manager,” Miss Raymone Bain.
When Tom Mesereau, Michael’s criminal attorney, fired her right before the jury decision in June 2005 for Jackson’s child molestation case, she called me. I was driving back to L.A. after another week in wonderful Santa Maria, California. I turned right around. Raymone, who’d ruled the roost, was out.
Yet she returned a year later, after Jackson’s self-exile in Bahrain and other places. She was his manager now, and would be until Tohme Tohne ousted her in a coup. The Raymone Era could take up its own book. She sued Michael for $44 million after he died. Well come on, why not? Ah, Raymone. She is a legend. She should get points for tenacity and perseverance.
El-Amin et al’s complaint, filed in May 2013– almost four years after Michael’s death-alleges that back in 2006 he, someone named Broderick Morris, and Bain’s assistant all contracted with Jackson to start a new company that would house all his film and recording projects. They have documents to prove it, they say.
Who is Qadree El-Amin? I have no idea, really. But from 1997-2013 he has about 20 cases in civil court. They range from breach of contract to a domestic dispute to a divorce. There’s also a paternity case and several Small Claims cases. Whoever he is, Mr. El-Amin is no stranger to L.A. Superior Court.
The complaint El Amin filed is full of mistakes in its timeline and generalizations about Jackson. I’m sure Howard Weitzman– handling the trial himself, I hear– is going to town on this stuff, as well as the omission of how Tohme got rid of Bain and how she wouldn’t let go. (Then, of course, Tohme wouldn’t let go.)There’s no jury, but the trial judge must be getting an earful.
By the way: My favorite part of the complaint is an exhibit– in which El-Amin et al add on their June 1, 2006 contract with Jackson. The agreement claim that Michael intends for his son Prince to become Chairman of this new company they all started together when the boy “finishes scoool.” Yes, that’s the way it’s written, just above Michael’s floating signature. LOL.
Good luck!
