michael-jackson-trial-230.jpgMichael Jackson's wrongful death trial kicks off today, and his mother Katherine (along with his three children, Paris, Prince and Blanket) are seeking $40 billion in damages from AEG Live.

The Jacksons claim the company negligently hired and supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who they blame for the king of pop's lethal Propofol overdose. The Jacksons plan to argue that AEG Live had a responsibility to monitor Murray, but there is quite a bit of evidence indicating that the pop star had a problem with drugs long before Murray came along. TMZ reports that Jackson had at least 19 aliases to get prescription drugs from different doctors, and he would even shop around for medical professionals who would administer Propofol.

"I don’t know how you can’t look to Mr. Jackson’s responsibility there," AEG lawyer Marvin Putnam said. “He was a grown man.” Putnam was interviewed for the CNN documentary Michael Jackson: The Final Days, which premieres at 10pm Friday. "Mr. Jackson is a person who was known to doctor shop,” Putnam added. “He was known to be someone who would tell one doctor one thing and another doctor something else."