Geragos Lawyer Asks for $2 Million-Plus in Jet Videotape Damages Secret

Geragos Lawyer Asks for $2 Million-Plus in Jet Videotape Damages Secret By: North County Times wire services – LOS ANGELES – A judge wants more information about the financial worth of a man who allegedly set up the secret videotaping of lawyer Mark Geragos and Michael Jackson aboard a private jet, court papers obtained today show. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Soussan G. Brugera, who presided over the three-day, non-jury trial stemming from Geragos’ lawsuit against Jeffrey Borer and XtraJet of Santa Monica, took the case under submission Jan. 24 to decide both liability and damages. Yesterday, Brugera issued a one-page notice setting a June 7 hearing in order to learn more about Borer’s financial status so she can determine how much punitive damages should be assessed against him. The taping occurred Nov. 20, 2003, as an aircraft owned by XtraJet took Jackson, Geragos and Geragos’ associate, attorney Pat Harris, from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara so the singer could surrender in a child molestation case. Geragos, Harris and Jackson sued Borer and XtraJet in November 2003 for invasion of privacy. Jackson dropped out as a plaintiff in April 2005. Brian J. Kabateck, the lawyer for Geragos and Harris, asked Brugera to award them $2 million in compensatory damages and punitive damages nine times that amount. The unique question raised by the tape involves assessing what damage has been done to Geragos by it, according to the attorneys in the case. Although the tape’s existence is known by millions, the small number of people who have actually seen it include the lawyers, the FBI and a few members of the media. A judge issued an order shortly after the flight preventing the tape from being sold and it has never been broadcast. Geragos was representing Jackson at the time, but the entertainer later replaced him with Tom Mesereau. Borer’s attorney, Lloyd Kirschbaum, said Brugera’s statements appear to indicate she has found Borer liable. But he said the real issues in the trial have always centered on damages since Borer has conceded he ordered that the videotaping be set up. “This could mean there will be an order of pennies on compensatory and punitive damages, or millions in compensatory and punitive damages,” Kirschbaum said. “The statement by the judge doesn’t really shed a lot of light.” Borer and Arvel Jett Reeves, an aircraft mechanic who admitted installing the cameras at Borer’s direction, pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court to conspiracy. Reeves was sentenced in July to eight months in prison and six months in a halfway house. Borer was sentenced in October to home detention and fined $10,000. Jackson, 48, was acquitted of the molestation charges in 2005. Source: [url=http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/25/news/state/14_27_414_24_07.txt]NCTimes[/url]