In the words of the late, great, Michael Jackson, “This is it,” according to Quincy Jones, because he’s had it up to here with MJ’s estate robbing him outta MAJOR money ever since Michael died in 2009.

Jones has been battling MJ’s estate executors (not MJ’s family) for a few years now. He says he’s owed $30 million so far from the royalties they’ve been stackin’ off of the work he produced for MJ’s most classic albums- Off the Wall, Bad, and the best selling album of ALL time, Thriller.

Details From 1st Day Of Trial

The 82 year old mega producer/musician’s lawyer, Mike McKool, started the first day of trial against the estate on Tuesday, with some hard hitting claims:

• McKool stated that Quincy was paid his proper percentage of the royalties up until MJ passed away, then after that, it all changed after the estate took over MJ’s finances.
• Jones’ attorney also argued that after MJ’s death, his estate saw a sharp increase in royalties, due to the sudden sales of MJ’s music, but that Quincy was left out of his proper share and that the estate didn’t even inform Quincy of the surge in sales until after Quincy filed his lawsuit in 2013. “He hasn’t been adjusted as Michael was adjusted,” McKool explained to the jury.
• Quincy says he was jacked out of millions from MJ’s This Is It documentary, which released posthumously in 2009. Jones’ music was used in the doc’ and his attorney said Jones was not paid his proper licensing fee from it. McKool informed the jury that the film grossed $500 million, the estate pocketed $90 million, but Jones was only paid $455,000.
• On the flip side, the attorney for MJ’s estate, Zia Modabber, argued that Quincy should pretty much be content with the money he’s already received from the estate, since it’s a lot of money- $18 million and that they do not owe him anything else:

“We believe the evidence will show that Mr. Jones is not entitled to anything but a fraction of the money he’s after,” Modabber said. Since Jackson’s death, he said, “Mr. Jones has been paid over $18 million, and he will make millions more.”

• Then Jackson’s longtime attorney and now the co-executor of MJ’s estate, John Branca, took the witness stand and things got a lil’ heated after he had to fess up to one of the ‘errors’ they’d made on their end:

Via Variety: Under questioning from Jones’ lawyer, Branca said the estate had offered Jones $2 million to $3 million to settle the case, which is what he believed Jones is owed. […] “It was never our practice to cheat … Mr. Jones,” Branca testified, as the debate became heated. “You’re creating a false impression.” […] Branca acknowledged that the estate had erred by failing to give Jones a credit for “This Is It.”

So far, things sound a lil’ shady on the side of MJ’s estate, in my opinion. But once all of the testimony and evidence comes out, that’s when we’ll really know for sure if they stuck Quincy for $30 mil’ or not. We’ll keep y’all posted.

Quincy Jones will likely take the stand next week. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

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