Collector, estate reaches deal on auction of MJ's memorabilia

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A collector and the late pop icon Michael Jackson's estate have reached an agreement over a lawsuit concerning a canceled auction of the late singer's memorabilia, the two sides said Monday.

The accord calls for the Jackson estate to sell to Richard LaPointe 64 of the 80-plus items in dispute between the collector, the estate and Julien's Auction House, the company that put together a massive Michael Jackson auction, LaPointe's lawyer Nicholas Hornberger said.

A jury trial will still take place to decide the collector's allegations of intentional interference with contractual relations and breach of contract against Julien's.

The auction to be held by Julien's was canceled in April 2009 after the singer reached a separate legal settlement in his own legal dispute with Julien's. Two months later, the super star died at age 50 when he was preparing for his comeback London concert.

The late singer's large collection of 170 items, including antiques, decorative arts, costumes, music awards and other items that were once kept in his Neverland estate in Santa Barbara County, California, were to be put on the block.

LaPointe filed the lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in October 2009, claiming ownership of items on which he bid online ahead of the auction. He claimed he was the only (and therefore the highest) bidder on 82 items and "may have been the highest bidder on not less than 88 additional items."

He was demanding for a minimum of 5 million U.S. dollars because that was the "true market value of the items" he was bidding on.

LaPointe was the only bidder for those items, including a replica classic automobile used by Jackson to provide transportation to celebrity guests at Neverland. He has one of the world's biggest collection of Beatles memorabilia.

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