Sexual Abuse Lawsuits Against Michael Jackson Given New Life by Appeals Court
Two men who claim they were sexually assaulted as children by Michael Jackson will have their lawsuits against the deceased singer reinstated.
According to the Associated Press, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who famously told their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary Finding Neverland, will have their lawsuits against MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., reinstated. Jackson, who died in 2009, was the sole owner and only shareholder in the companies.
California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal wrote, “A corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse.”
“It would be perverse to find no duty based on the corporate defendant having only one shareholder. And so we reverse the judgments entered for the corporations.”
The lawsuit was initially filed in 2013 and has been overturned on appeal twice. The case fell under the parameters of a newer law signed in 2019 by California Governor Gavin Newsom, giving people with sexual abuse allegations until age 40, up from age 26, to file lawsuits. It also gives victims of all ages a three-year window to sue, according to the AP.
Lawyers for Jackson’s estate said they were "disappointed."
“Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it,” attorney Jonathan Steinsapir said in an email to the Associated Press. “We remain fully confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which are contrary to all credible evidence and independent corroboration, and which were only first made years after Michael’s death by men motivated solely by money.”
Vince Finaldi, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an email that they were “pleased but not surprised” that the court overturned the previous judge’s “incorrect rulings in these cases, which were against California law and would have set a dangerous precedent that endangered children throughout state and country. We eagerly look forward to a trial on the merits.”
