A judge has dismissed a request for a new trial in the case of an air charter service which was ordered to pay pop superstar MICHAEL JACKSON over $20 million (GBP10 million) for secretly videotaping the singer.
The now defunct XtraJet was accused of making videos of the star and his lawyers onboard one of the firm's planes when he flew from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara, California in November 2003.
The Thriller hitmaker was on his way to hand himself into police, who were investigating child molestation charges against him .
The California-based company was ordered to pay Jackson, his lawyer Mark Geragos and associate Pat Harris $20.5 million (GBP10.25 million) in damages for invasion of privacy.
Lawyers for XtraJet's owner Jeffrey Borer had issued a request for a retrial, claming the tape was not a violation as it did not include sound.
But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Soussan Bruguera rejected the motion, agreeing with Jackson's lawyer that even if there was no audio, the company's intention had been to record conversations.
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