There have been rumors surrounding Michael Jackson and bankruptcy for years, but if he isn’t broke yet, this oughta push him over the edge: A judge ordered him to pay $175,000 in legal bills. It’s also no secret Jackson is a deadbeat and thinks he’s so special he doesn’t have to pay bills, now he doesn’t have a choice. From E!.
A judge has ordered the Thriller artist to fork over $175,000 in attorneys’ fees for the Torrance, California, law firm that sued him last year to recoup the cash for services rendered on his behalf.
Jackson retained Ayscough & Marar to, among other things, file motions to delay discovery proceedings in various civil cases and to seal information pertaining to his child molestation trial in 2005.
The O.C. firm also represented the erstwhile King of Pop in July 2006 when a former business associate, porn producer F. Marc Schaffel, alleged that Jackson owed him $1.4 million in unpaid royalties, loans and expenses from projects the two worked on together.
Schaffel won a $900,000 judgment but was also ordered to pay Jackson $200,000 to satisfy the singer’s countersuit, in which Jackson accused Schaffel of draining the account they set up for creative projects and of writing company checks long after Jackson had fired him.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant entered a $256,000 judgment in the firm’s favor in July in accordance with what Jackson reportedly agreed to pay to help settle the outstanding bill.
Monday’s ruling is meant to compensate Ayscough & Marar for the counsel it hired to represent the company in these proceedings, which kicked off with the filing of the lawsuit in February 2006.
“That’s quite a lot of money for not paying his bills,” firm partner Brent Ayscough told reporters, adding that he and his colleagues haven’t yet seen a penny of the $256,000, either. That sum will continue to accrue by an interest rate of 10 percent until Jackson pays up, Ayscough said.
Jackson tried to get the legal eagles off his back in August 2006, filing a countersuit in which he alleged that one of the firm’s attorneys threatened to air some confidential dirty laundry if he didn’t pay, but Chalfant dismissed the suit for lack of merit.
Deadbeat. And that’s just the start of his problems. The Prince of Bahrain is looking to get back the $7 million he laid out for Michael when Jackson fled to that country after his child molestation trial. Michael leeched off of him and never paid him back. What a jerk.
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