DOCUMENT: Crime

Law Firm Says Jacko Stiffed Them

Complaint: Singer ignored bills in 'repressed memory' sex suit

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Law Firm Says Jacko Stiffed Them

JUNE 1--A New Orleans law firm hired by Michael Jackson to defend him in a bizarre sexual abuse lawsuit has sued the performer for failing to pay nearly $47,000 in legal bills. In the below complaint, filed Friday in Orleans Parish District Court, Schonekas, Winsberg, Evans & McGoey charge that Jackson has stiffed them in connection with their work on a 'repressed memory' lawsuit filed last November by Joseph Bartucci. According to Bartucci's federal complaint, he was molested by Jackson over a nine-day period in 1984, when he was 18. The firm represented Jackson for about six months, until late-April, when it filed a motion seeking to withdraw from the civil action. The reasons for the withdrawal were 'sensitive in nature,' the firm argued, and a judge agreed to seal a motion describing them. It now seems clear that the lawyers dropped Jackson because he simply didn't pay them a penny (attached to the firm's lawsuit were 27 pages worth of unpaid invoices). Which probably would not come as a surprise to Jackson's former videographer, a Los Angeles antiques shop, or an ex-business manager. (5 pages)