Michael Jackson's wrongful-death lawsuit goes to jury

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The wrongful-death lawsuit Michael Jackson's family brought against concert promoter AEG Live was handed over to a Los Angeles jury Thursday.

Only nine of the 12 jurors must agree on the verdict in a civil trial, while a unanimous agreement is needed from panels deciding criminal trials.

The surviving members of Jackson's family, including his mother and three children, are seeking $290 million in personal damages and unspecified damages based on what the singer could have earned by performing had he not died in 2009 at the age of 50.

The Jackson family is suing the promoters for allegedly failing to properly supervise Dr. Conrad Murray, the personal physician hired to care for Jackson as he prepared for a string of comeback shows in London.

Murray is serving a four-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter for administering lethal amounts of sedatives and anesthesia to Jackson in an effort to help Jackson sleep.

AEG Live has argued Jackson demanded it hire Murray to look after him, then kept his insomnia and controversial medical treatments a secret from his financial backers.