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Michael's Dr. Dolittle Wants Payday
The King of Pop is getting sued by the king of his jungle.
A California veterinarian who tended to Michael Jackson's exotic menagerie at Neverland Ranch claims the singer failed to pay his bills, adding yet another lawsuit to Jackson's seemingly never-ending list of legal entanglements.
The suit, filed Dec. 27 in Santa Maria, California, on behalf of Dr. Martin Dinnes, alleges Jackson owes $91,602 for nearly weekly care for an odd assortment of animals, including giraffes, elephants, flamingos and orangutans, residing at Neverland's zoo.
(Jackson's most famous pet, the chimpanzee Bubbles, never made the move to the fantasyland estate. Now in his twenties, Bubbles resides at a ranch owned by Hollywood animal trainer Bob Dunn.)
The vet, who owns and operates Dinnes Memorial Veterinary Hospital, also claims to have helped Jackon acquire the pets.
"He filed this [lawsuit] with great reluctance," Dinnes' lawyer, Brenton Horner, told the Santa Maria Times, adding that "he has a lot of admiration for Michael. This is just a business matter."
Per a press release issued by his alma mater, the University of California, Davis, Dinnes is an expert in zoo and aquatic medicine and surgery and has been the chief veterinarian for Jackson's wild kingdom for the past 15 years.
The animal doctor, who still provides care for Jackson's critters, seeks to recoup all unpaid bills along with all legal costs associated with the breach of contract suit.
A hearing has been set for May 2.
Dinnes declined to comment Monday; phone messages left for Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. and publicist Raymone Bain were not immediately returned.
Jackson, 47, hasn't been around to play with his pets since his acquittal on child molestation charges, having taken up residence in the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain.
That vet suit is but one of several legal thrillers embroiling Jackson. In November, ex-manager Dieter Wiesner slapped him with a $64 million breach of contract lawsuit, alleging the entertainer sold merchandising rights that he didn't have rights to sell.
That same month, Jackson was sued by ex-business partner and gay porn producer Marc Schaffel, who is seeking more than $3 million in unpaid loans and fees and accusing the entertainer of financial and drug problems the same day he released a greatest hits box set, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection.
Jackson's legal docket also includes: sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a New Orleans man; a lawsuit brought by Jackson against the ex-manager, Marcel Avram, who successfully sued Jackson for backing out of two millennium's eve concerts; and a breach-of-contract lawsuit brought by the company that helped Jackson refinance a monster-sized bank loan.
The load got a little lighter last week, though, when a federal judge tossed a $10 million lawsuit Jackson filed two years ago against a New Jersey businessman over some disputed Jackson family memorabilia because Jackson failed to pursue the matter.
Jackson has supposedly been working on his all-star Hurricane Katrina benefit single, supposedly featuring contributions by Mariah Carey, James Brown and Snoop Dogg. The track, first announced back in September, has yet to hit airwaves.
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