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MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro - Settlement reached

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Vici said:
Howard Mann's Lies

It was Mann's idea that they should create a fake agreement saying that Vaccaro sold everything to Mann, however nothing such has happened. As a result of this maneuver they can get Katherine involved with the Mann businesses.
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And to think, Mother had the nerve to PUBLICALLY state how good Howard Mann is to her, while repeating her sob story about how she needs more money as a way of explaining her partnership with Mann i.e. "I'm not being greedy, I need the money" (Mother's own words).

Mann is nothing more than a crook, and it's all being revealed now. He was never interested in "helping" Mother, he just needed her approval as a way of infringing on The Estate of Michael Jackson. EPIC FAIL!

He must be losing a bundle with all of the legal fees he has to pay (LOL) and I can see him suing Mother somewhere down the line in order to recoup some of those loses.
 
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Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Mann is a crook and it's a shame that Katherine got involved with him because of her greed.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Vici said:
Vaccaro furthermore stated that Mann lied about the sale numbers of the "Never Can Say Goodbye" book. Mann's website, JacksonSecretVaults.com stated that they sold 25,000 copies within 48 hours, however Mann admitted to Vaccaro that it was "all for hype". Vaccaro recalls that the total numbers were very far from this.
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Oh yeah, one more thing:

I'm not surprised to hear that the picture book didn't do well. I figured Mann was "blowing smoke" when he stated how well the book sold in it's first few hours.

I mean, it's no secret that the majority of the MJ fan community didn't support that book, and without our collective support, the project would be doomed.

Even an appearance with Oprah Winfrey couldn't move that crap (LOL), once folks did their due diligence and found out exactly who Howard Mann was.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Why would Mann call Tohme? what he's got to do with this case?
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

passy001 said:
Why would Mann call Tohme? what he's got to do with this case?
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The only thing I can think is that Thome seems to be the one who gives away Michael's property stating that Michael told him to do so. Maybe Thome will say that Michael gave him the power to give something or do something. Whatever he says anyway will be a lie.

Big Apple I have wondered about that several times too--if these business partners will try to sue Katherine since she has money and claim she gave them papers claiming she had certain rights. I wonder what goes through her mind now when she sees how much her actions has cost the estate? Does she even think about that?

I also suspected that the books were not selling too. I mean they were seen during the last Gary birthday bash, on Oprah, (and maybe at church).
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Vici said:
Vaccaro testified that he and Mann had a fake contract in order to mislead Katherine Jackson. Mann told to Vaccaro that Katherine would not do anything with the Jackson Collection, until Vaccaro is an interested party (Katherine was still furious over Vaccaro because he seized some of the family items in a previous litigation).

It was Mann's idea that they should create a fake agreement saying that Vaccaro sold everything to Mann, however nothing such has happened. As a result of this maneuver they can get Katherine i
involved with the Mann businesses./QUOTE]

I wonder what is going to happen now? How long Katherine has been aware of that fake contract and what is she going to do?
I can see 2 things happen, she stops dealing with Mann, and Mann will sue her for breach of contract and/or she keeps doing what she is doing with Mann. Then again, Katherine can break the contract with Mann, because she was lead to believe Vaccaro is not part of deal. Anyway I look at this, I see court case brewing, Mann will not give up on Katherine now that he knows she gets tons of money from the estate.
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Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Big Apple2 said:
I truly believe that Joe AND Katherine told Mann that they had the rights to do whatever they wanted to do.

If I recall correctly, when the Gary Project was first announced, the Estate of Michael Jackson made it clear that they would have no rights to Michael's likeness and so forth. The Mayor of Gary then started waving a letter around which was signed by both Joe and Katherine Jackson "claiming" that they had the rights to all things Michael Jackson.

Even when the Estate objected, the Mayor continued to say: No, no, no. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson signed a letter, there are no problems.

In my opinion, "some" members of the Jackson family don't care about the long run, they are just interested in earning a few dollars, before they move on to the next scam, I mean "project."

Case in point, look at the new book written by the guy from the Michael Forever Tribute. The Jacksons who were involved, got what they wanted and just moved on, leaving Chris Hunt and Company holding the bag.
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Yes, i agree with you, big apple. I don't really see all these deals as the jacksons getting suckered in by business lowlife, instead the jacksons give as good as they get, and often emerge from the inevitable chaos with the cash. As you say global live, also the moonies, the jackson family honours, the victory tour etc. All these business people and their partners lose money but the jacksons get paid.

And in this case, if mrs j gets sued by mann, does she really care. It's just mj's estate that will pay for her dubious legal dealings.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Bonnie Blue said:
And in this case, if mrs j gets sued by mann, does she really care. It's just mj's estate that will pay for her dubious legal dealings.
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I personally hate to see money waisted for nothing:)
I wonder would the estate pays legal costs, especially the stupid ones?
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

passy001 said:
Why would Mann call Tohme? what he's got to do with this case?
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It seems whenever michael's name appears there is tohme getting himself right involved...that guy is one fishy dude
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Bubs said:
I personally hate to see money waisted for nothing:)
I wonder would the estate pays legal costs, especially the stupid ones?
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Well they seem to have given loans for jerm's child support, so i think their threshhold for what constitutes a worthy cause for funding is quite low.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Bonnie Blue said:
Well they seem to have given loans for jerm's child support, so i think their threshhold for what constitutes a worthy cause for funding is quite low.
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You are right, Jermaine's child support shouldn't qualify as care, support, maintenance, comfort and well-being of Katherine.
Maybe K went to talk to executors and told them she is not feeling comfortable while Jermaine is in Africa, and she need money to get him back;-) At least M Lodise is there keeping eye on money trail, she didn't let K and her attorney to get away with their money claim, so I hope she continues to be as strict as possible with "odd" claims.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

^ Actually thinking about it paying jerm's child support to alejandra did enable her to leave hayvenhurst with all her children which actually was a requirement from a judge, i think, when looking at the conditions that ppb were living in. So maybe the estate was doing it to allow a less chaotic household for ppb, idk, rather than for the pleasure of jerm's presence in the usa - a value you simply can't put a monetary value on.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Little Update :

Howard Mann's lawyer has filed an emergency motion asking for a one month delay in the trial. The reason they are saying is because they had to hire a new lawyer because their current lawyer Lee Durst is the one that consulted Howard Mann in regard to this business deal with Katherine and Vaccaro. As he will be required to testify, he can't be their current lawyer and the new lawyer needs time to prepare.

The new lawyer of Mann also argues that Estate cannot be bringing copyright claims for TII and Opis None (Destiny remix) and such claims can only be brought by Columbia Pictures (for TII) and Sony Music (for Destiny remix) and therefore Estate lacks standing to bring such complaints.

Estate is understandably confused. They are asking the judge to determine the issues that will be discussed at trial. Estate lawyers was thinking as the partial summary judgement determined the issues, the only thing was left to determine was the damages. Estate had stated that they would drop the two claims about Katherine's book (the drawings and the thank you note). Mann lawyers also state that Estate told them they would not be seeking punitive damages. Estate lawyers only planned to use one witness - their expert witness - who would testify the damages to be between $5 to $12 Million (fair market value of the infringing MJ's copyrights and publicity, name , image and likeliness). Estate expected the trial to last 1-2 days.

However Mann has a totally different plan. Estate says Mann is planning to introduce a lot of new issues and claims and defenses and plans to call up to 29 witnesses. So Estate is asking the court to determine what will be the issues allowed at trial.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

I hope the estate lawyers are asking enough punitive damages that it will make both of those crooks to go bankruptcy.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

what are the "new issues and claims and defenses" ?
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Just when I thought it was all done and dusted we get this. Let's see what the court has to say.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

marc_vivien said:
what are the "new issues and claims and defenses" ?
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some is mentioned above such as Estate cannot bring copyright claims for TII and Destiny. The court has already determined the copyright was infringed , now that argument is again opening the same issue of copyright infringement. Some are not clear.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

As the original complaint says, the estate and the MJ company owns the TII movie, the copyrights, the trailer and the key art.
And Sony assigned to the Estate the right to sue Mann & Co.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Are mann and his lawyers stupid. talk about playing silly buggers
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

apparently the new lawyer went to the copyright office and the records there show Columbia Pictures and Sony as the copyright owner. It seems like he's planning on arguing a technicality.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Yes but Sony assigned to the Estate the right.

marc_vivien said:
As the original complaint says, the estate and the MJ company owns the TII movie, the copyrights, the trailer and the key art.
And Sony assigned to the Estate the right to sue Mann & Co.
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The hearing and the decision (also about the will-theme) is today, right? At what time?
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

11 AM PST I think
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

For This is it the lawyer included a short form distribution agreement between MJ Estate, AEG and Sony / Columbia pictures. In this agreement MJ Estate and AEG transfers their rights to Columbia Pictures for some time. He then includes the TII poster copyright registration which is numbered VA0001694133 which is registered by Columbia Pictures. Similarly trailer for TII is registered by Columbia Pictures( PA0001644924)

For the Destiny he says the document Sony signed does not give Estate the ownership over copyright and there they won't have a standing to bring the lawsuit.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

All this dancing around the table by Mann is just futile. There is no way the judge will fall for that. He's trying to create additional delays that won't help him in the end. Even if Sony owns the said copyright as opposed to the Estate, it's been already established beyond doubt that he infringed upon them. Thus, all Sony has to do is to refile the same complaint. But why doing that when the original complaint already shows very clearly that Sony gave the MJ Estate the authority to file this suit.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Marc Vivien, isn't it too late for Mann to submit this new evidence seeing as the judge has already given a summary judgement.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Here we go again. Now this new lawyer wants to start this case over, rather than continuing where the last lawyer left off. It seems every time there is a hearing or judgment, Mann's team come up with some "new" evidence. Hopefully the judge can get this thing sorted out pretty quickly, because they do not need extra time, if all that is required is determining punitive damages. Also, when did the estate say they would not request punitive damages? Is Mann dreaming. Why would the estate go to court and then walk away and not punish the thief?
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

he new lawyer of Mann also argues that Estate cannot be bringing copyright claims for TII and Opis None (Destiny remix) and such claims can only be brought by Columbia Pictures (for TII) and Sony Music (for Destiny remix) and therefore Estate lacks standing to bring such complaints.
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So mann's lawyers are making claims he has some co owning of TII?
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Mann Update

On Monday Estate has filed a motion objecting every one of Mann's witnesses. Estate still maintains the position that the trial is about determining damages and every other topic & witness is irrelevant.

Today Estate has filed a trial brief. In that trial brief Estate is saying that as they only plan to seek actual damages, Mann/ Vaccaro's state of mind, intent and good faith is irrelevant. Estate says if the court says Mann / Vaccaro's state of mind / intent is irrelevant , Estate will not seek punitive and statuary damages and only will pursue actual damages. However Estate says if the court allows the state of mind be a defense (meaning it was an innocent mistake etc. argument) Estate will counter that and seek punitive and statuary damages.

Estate says they will dismiss false endorsement in regards to Katherine's book (the thank you note to the Estate), Destiny song copyright claim and (without prejudice - meaning while maintaining their copyright claim) drawings of Michael used in Katherine's book.

Estate says they own the TII movie and show the copyright registration for it ( PA0001648138) and say they just licensed it to Columbia pictures. So Estate is maintaining their copyright claims in regards to TII images.

Estate says Mann's claims that he was mislead by Vaccaro is irrelevant to the trial issue and disagreements in regards who should pay or the claims against each other is outside of the trial.

We get information about the motions as well.
- Estate's motion asking Mann not to be allowed to present expert testimony as they didn't provide a written report is granted as Mann did not oppose to this motion.
- Mann's motion to show evidence that they did not post Thriller 25 materials has became moot based on partial summary judgement.
- Estate's motion asking Mann not to be allowed to introduce website evidence that they did not produce at discovery was granted.

Now the most important the motion about the will and the Executors
- Judge hasn't done a definitive determination in that regard. Court has granted the Motion subject to the determination of whether evidence relevant to equity as it relates to damages under the Lanham Act will be permitted. In easier terms court is saying if it relates to "state of mind" argument it can be allowed, if not it won't be. Estate is saying as they will only seek actual damages and the state of mind is irrelevant to that it should be granted in full.
 
Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Um..is that last bit positive or negative for the Estate?
 
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