People News

Michael Jackson's legal deadline

Dec 13, 2007, 13:30 GMT

Michael Jackson - New York, NY © Wild1 / Photorazzi

Michael Jackson has been given 25 days to submit financial information to a California law firm or face handing over massive unpaid legal fees.

Yesterday (12.12.07), a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Jackson to provide records to Ayscough and Marar - who he employed during his child molestation case in 2005 - or pay the $256,000 in unpaid legal fees the firm were awarded in a judgement against him in July.

Judge James C. Chalfant said: "While the court has no reason to doubt the sincerity of the representations of his attorneys, the fact of the matter is that under law, Jackson must provide further responses to the law firm's request, particularly since he agreed to do so through the meet-and-confer process."

Jackson's lawyer Marshall L. Brubacher told the judge his client would be able to come up with the funds in nine days, once he has finished the refinancing of his Neverland Ranch in California.

Brubacher also said sorting through Jackson's financial documents could take longer than 25 days.

He said: "I went to Neverland last week, and it's a mammoth amount of work, because there are 30,000 boxes of financial documents."

Ayscough and Marar's lawyer Michael McCarthy countered: "Thirty-thousand boxes, that's not even credible."

During the child molestation case in 2005, Jackson used Ayscough and Marar to perform tasks such as obtaining court orders to block information from being publicly released.

In July, it was ordered Jackson must pay the firm $216,837 in unpaid legal fees and $39,177 in interest.

The 49-year-old singer is already appealing a second judgement in October ordering him to cover the $175,000 in lawyer's fees the firm spent hiring outside lawyers in the case.

(C) BANG Media International