Not it is not too late to sue. The suit is not over direct payment for participation, but Jackson's failure to pay out royalties. It is likely that his production company collected 100% of the royalties from the video. If Ms. Ray's contract entitled her to royalties from her appearance and he didn't pay or didn't pay properly, she it entitled to sue him to collect her fees. Apparently John Landis is also suing him for royalties too; according to the article link below, he filed suit in January. It may in fact be very good time as there is an auction, a concert tour and he recently sold rights to 'Thriller' for a Broadway production. Please see the links below for more information.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b81041_legal_thriller_michael_jackson_sued_by.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/05/07/michael-jackson-sued-by-former-publicist-thriller-star/

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