Michael Jackson: Two cases of alleged sexual abuse committed by the singer are reopened

Two men who allege they were sexually abused as children by Michael Jackson may resume legal proceedings against his companies, as ruled by judges at the California Court of Appeals released by The New York Timeslast Friday (18).

This court, also known as the appellate court or appellate court, is an intermediate level of the justice system in the United States. Its primary function is to review and decide appeals from decisions made by lower courts, such as federal and state district courts.

understand the case

wade robson (40) and James Safechuck (45) claim that the artist abused them in the late 1980s and early 1990s while they were at his Neverland property. Furthermore, both also accuse the employees of their two companies – MJJ Productions Inc. It is MJJ Ventures Inc. – of being accomplices, acting as its “co-conspirators, collaborators and facilitators”.

The lawsuits claim that company employees had a “duty of care” to the boys and failed to take steps to prevent the abuse. The accusations were presented in the documentary Leaving Neverland (2019), aired by HBOthat the family of Pop king described it as a “public lynching”.

Lawyers of Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, maintain statements about his innocence. The two companies, which now belong to the artist’s estate, deny repeatedly abusing the boys.

“We remain fully confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which are contrary to all credible and independently corroborated evidence, and which were first made years after Michael’s death by men motivated solely by money,” said Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney of the estate, in a statement following the decision.

The reopening of the case

The lawsuits were first filed in 2013 and 2014, respectively, but both were eventually dismissed in 2017 because they exceeded California’s statute of limitations. They reopened in 2020 after a new state law gave perpetrators in child sexual abuse cases additional time to file lawsuits.

In October 2020 and April 2021, the lawsuits were again dismissed when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the two corporations and their employees had no legal obligation to protect the men.

However, on Friday, the Court of Appeals for the Second District of California ruled that “a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not exempt from an affirmative duty to protect those children just because it is owned exclusive to the abuser”.

It would be perverse not to recognize the duty based on the defendant company having only one shareholder. Therefore, we reversed the decisions handed down in favor of the companies.”