Case Number: BC602913 Hearing Date: May 05, 2016 Dept: 1

#5 – Patel v. Branca, et al. (BC 602 913); In re Estate of Michael Joseph Jackson (BP 117 321)

Defendants/Petitioners John Branca and John McClain filed a Notice of Related Case on January 29, 2016 seeking to relate a probate and civil law case, which Notice was only recently received in Department 1. Counsel is reminded of the LASC Local Rule 3.3(f)(2) obligation to file a copy of the Notice of Related Case directly in Department 1 as well as in all the pending cases, when the Notice contains a family law or probate law case as well as a civil law case, and all cases listed on the Notice are pending in the Central District or are pending in two or more different districts.

No opposition has been received.

Whether cases that involve either a probate or family law matter are related is a question determined by Department 1. LASC Local Rule 3.3(f)(2). Cases are related when they (1) involve the same parties and are based on the same or similar claims, (2) arise from the same or substantially identical transactions, incidents, or events requiring the determination of the same or substantially identical questions of law or fact, (3) involve claims against, title to, possession of, or damages to the same property, or (4) are likely for other reasons to require substantial duplication of judicial resources if heard by different judges. CRC 3.300(a).

In order of filing, the cases sought to be related are:

• In re Estate of Michael Joseph Jackson (BP 117 321) – filed June 29, 2009 when Joseph Walter Jackson and Katherine Esther Jackson petitioned to administer the intestate estate of their son Michael Jackson, who died on June 25, 2009. Petitioners alleged the decedent had an estate with value to be determined, with the parents and the decedent’s three children as the heirs. A competing petition was filed July 1, 2009 by John Branca and John McClain, forwarding a July 7, 2002 will naming them as executors, and their petition was granted on July 6, 2009. Numerous claims have been filed by creditors and rejected, including a claim filed by Sharad Chandra Patel on April 1, 2010 naming damages in an unspecified amount in excess of $1 million. The following civil law cases have previously been related to this case:
o BS 132 820 (DeMann Entertainment, Inc. v. Branca, et al.) – related on 8/25/11, dismissed on 12/2/11;
o SC 114 598 (DeMann Entertainment, Inc. v. Branca, et al) – related on 3/6/12;
o SC 115 988 (Tohme v. Branca, et al) – related on 3/28/12;
o BC 508 502 (Robson v. Doe 1, et al) – related on 6/6/13;
o BC 508 258 (Morris, et al. v. Branca, et al) – related on 6/13/13, deemed unrelated on 6/27/13 following CCP § 170.6 challenge to Judge Mitchell and case is now assigned to Department 34; and
o BC 582 878 (Kinsey, et al. v. Branca, et al.) – related on 12/17/15.

The case was originally assigned to Judge Mitchell Beckloff in probate law Department 5; following his reassignment to a civil law department, on April 15, 2014 the probate case and related cases were ordered reassigned to Judge Beckloff in that new department by order of Judge Michael Levanas, Supervising Judge of the Probate Courts, pursuant to his authority to apportion the court’s business and assign/re-assign cases as delegated by the Presiding Judge. See CRC 10.603(b)(1)(B) and (d). On June 5, 2014, Judge Daniel Buckley, Supervising Judge of the Civil Courts, similarly exercised that authority to order an exception for The Michael Jackson Company’s Probate Code § 850 Petition that was filed on January 28, 2013 – seeking an order determining that the Estate of Michael Jackson is the sole member and owner of the Michael Jackson Company, LLC – which on unopposed application was severed from the probate case and its related civil cases and ordered to remain in probate law Department 5. Trial on the § 850 petition began on December 28, 2015 in probate law Department 5 and post-trial briefs are currently being considered. Jury trial on remaining matters is currently set for May 3, 2016.

• Patel v. Branca, et al. (BC 602 913) – filed December 3, 2015 when Sharad Chandra Patel sued John Branca and John McClain, as co-executors of the estate of Michael Joseph Jackson (“Decedent”), to enforce the rejected creditor’s claim. Plaintiff alleges that his son Raju (producer of “Bachelor Party” among other films) and Decedent had dreamed of making movies together, including a documentary about and for the Decedent’s fans entitled “Messages to Michael,” and that on February 11, 2005 they entered into an agreement for this. Prior to Raju’s October 2005 death from cancer, on August 16, 2005 Raju assigned his rights in the agreement to Plaintiff. Decedent reaffirmed his commitment to the project with Plaintiff in March 2009, prior to Decedent’s own June 25, 2009 death. On July 24, 2009 Plaintiff contacted defendant Branca regarding the agreement, but in August 2009 Defendants instead entered into a deal with Sony Pictures to release a documentary (“This is It”) which, like the planned “Messages to Michael,” contained never-before-seen video footage of the Decedent. Plaintiff alleges that was done so as to obtain a $60 million payment and 90% share from Sony, compared with the subject deal which provided for a 50/50 split. Plaintiff filed a creditor’s claim on April 1, 2010 in the probate case, which was denied on September 3, 2015. Accordingly, Plaintiff filed this action to have a judgment establishing the validity of Plaintiff’s creditor’s claim. The case is assigned to Department 48 of the Stanley Mosk courthouse, where a case management conference is set for May 11, 2016.

As seen above, the civil law case only involves parties also involved in the probate case, and involves a claim against the Decedent’s estate subject to the probate court’s jurisdiction over the administration of that estate. As also seen above, several civil law cases have previously been related to the probate law case in order to avoid duplication of judicial efforts, and these civil law cases also involved various claims for significant sums of money from the Decedent’s estate based on liability incurred by the Decedent during his lifetime. According to the most recent accounting filed in the probate case (filed June 29, 2015), more than $500 million in debt and creditor’s claims have been received and processed by the administrators, and more than $600 million in gross earnings have been generated by the estate since the Decedent’s death. Accordingly, the amounts at issue in this subject civil law case potentially constitute a significant portion of the available assets of the estate and, if deemed a valid debt of the estate, will directly affect the administration of that estate. Therefore it will promote judicial economy and also efficient administration of the estate if this civil law case is also related with the probate case.

Accordingly, the court finds BC 602 913 is related to case BP 117 321 and orders it reassigned to Judge Mitchell Beckloff in Department M of the Santa Monica courthouse along with the probate case and its already-related cases. All hearings currently set in BC 602 913 are hereby advanced and vacated.