AEG email: Murray works for us, not Jackson

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Michael Jackson fans from left, Karlene Taylor, Yvonne Francis, Latrenda White and Jamie Lee, speak out against AEG Live. A jury found Wednesday that AEG Live was not liable in the death of the pop superstar. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Jury foreman Gregg Barden, center, listens to a reporter’s question about their verdict in the civil trial over the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson and three grandchildren against AEG Live in the death of singer Michael Jackson. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos gathers the verdict documents moments before they were publicly disclosed. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Attorneys for Katherine Jackson, Deborah Chang, left and Kevin Boyle listen as jurors are polled following the verdict in the civil trial that lasted for five months. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam smiles during verdict polling at the conclusion of the Katherine Jackson v. AEG Live civil trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The jury found AEG not liable in Michael Jackson’s death. AEG attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina is at left. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, left, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, speaks with Kathryn Cahan and Marvin Putnam, attorneys with AEG Live LLC ,in Los Angeles County Superior Court in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death trial Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Bailiffs are sworn in to protect the jury as Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, waits during the trial in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday. The singer’s family has sued the entertainment firm AEG Live LLC, saying the company negligently hired and supervised Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered the dose of propofol that killed the singer. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, an attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in a packed courtroom in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 24. The promoters of Michael Jackson’s last tour were “so excited” about making huge profits that they hired an unfit doctor to care for the star, his family’s lawyer said. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Marvin Putnam, lead attorney for AEG Live LLC and co-counsel Jessica Stebbins-Bina, listen to closing arguments by Michael Jackson family’s attorney, Brian Panish, in a packed courtroom Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live LLC on Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam gives closing arguments in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 25. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos listens to a rebuttal argument in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 26. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s former wife and mother of two of his children, leaves Los Angeles County Superior Court after testifying at the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, against AEG Live. (Nick Ut / Associated Press)

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Television crews report live outside Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles on the first day of the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit. (Joe Klamar / AFP/Getty Images)

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In this file photo dated Sept. 27, 2011, Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson arrives outside Los Angeles County Superior Court to hear opening statement in the involuntary manslaughter trial of pop superstar Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Murray was convicted and sentenced to prison. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)

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Singer Janet Jackson, left, Paris Katherine Jackson, Prince Michael Jackson II and LaToya Jackson are seen on stage during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

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Entertainer Michael Jackson announces on March 5, 2009, that he will play a series of comeback concerts at the London O2 Arena in July. Jackson died before the concerts could be held. (Joel Ryan / Associated Press)

By Jeff Gottlieb

May 29, 2013 3:55 PM PT

An email from a ranking AEG executive that was shown in court Wednesday could be among the most telling pieces of evidence in answering a central question in the Michael Jackson wrongful death suit: who employed Dr. Conrad Murray?

“Frank and I have discussed it already and have requested a face-to-face meeting with the doctor, hopefully Monday,” AEG Live co-CEO Paul Gongaware wrote on June 14, 2009, 11 days before Murray administered a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to the singer.

“We want to remind him that it is AEG, not MJ who is paying his salary. We want him to understand what is expected of him.”

FULL COVERAGE: AEG wrongful death trial

One of driving questions in the wrongful death case is whether it was concert promoter AEG or Jackson who hired and controlled Murray, who is now serving time for involuntary manslaughter,

Confronted with the email as he sat on the witness stand Wednesday, Gongaware said he didn’t recall writing it.

“I don’t understand it because we weren’t paying his salary,” Gongaware said.

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson | 1958-2009

“So why were you writing it?” asked Brian Panish, the Jackson family’s attorney.

“I have no idea,” Gongaware replied.

The AEG executive later said the email was “shorthand” between him, tour director Kenny Ortega and Jackson’s manager Frank Dileo. “I was going through hundreds of emails a day. If I knew lawyers four years later were picking everything apart, I may have been more careful choosing my words,” Gongaware testified.

Gongaware also testified that in response to concerns over Jackson’s health from Ortega, he was trying to find the singer a nutritionist and physical therapist.

Ortega replied in a June 15, 2009, email , “Super. Not a minute too soon. Let’s turn this guy around!”

Asked by Panish if Oretga raised his concerns about Jackson’s health, Gongaware replied, “Perhaps.”

“I was never concerned about Michael Jackson. I knew when the houselights went off, he would be there and on.”

In their lawsuit, Jackson’s mother and three children contend that AEG negligently hired and supervised Murray, who was supposed to be paid $150,000 a month. AEG says that any money it was supposed to pay the doctor was an advance to Jackson.

In another email exchange, this one with the assistant to Tim Leiweke, then chief executive of parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group, Gongaware wrote that he couldn’t tell her which day the “This Is It” concerts would open in London because Jackson hadn’t shown up to rehearsal.

“Pray for me,” he wrote May 5, 2009. “This is a nightmare. Not coincidentally, I have them now every night. Cold sweats, too. Life used to be so much fun…”

Gongaware testified that he was joking in the email.

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