Michael Jackson's mum demands payout for wrongful death

Michael Jackson's mother is seeking billions of dollars from tour promoter AEG Live over her son's 2009 death, in a trial that will finally get under way in Los Angeles this month.

Jury selection begins today for the wrongful death trial, in which Katherine Jackson accuses Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) of negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray to look after her son as he prepared for a series of London shows.

Murray, jailed after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for giving the singer an overdose of the drug propofol, could be called to testify, although he may refuse to do so, lawyers have suggested.

The 82-year-old Jackson matriarch herself, as well as the late pop star's two elder children, will also give evidence in the trial that comes nearly four years after his death, and could last more than two months.

The trial could also broach child molestation allegations against Jackson, after the trial judge allowed such evidence even though the singer was acquitted of charges in 2005.

Jackson died at his Los Angeles mansion on June 25, 2009 aged 50, from an overdose of the powerful sedative propofol, administered by Murray to help him deal with chronic insomnia.