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MICHAEL JACKSON SEXUAL ABUSE LAWSUITS REVIVED BY APPEALS COURT

Arts Aug 18, 2023 7:55 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court on Friday revived lawsuits from
two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were
boys.

A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that
the lawsuits of Wade Robson and James Safechuck should not have been dismissed
by a lower court, and that the men can validly claim that the two Jackson-owned
corporations that were named as defendants in the cases had a responsibility to
protect them. A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of
sexual abuse cases enabled the appeals court to restore them.

It’s the second time the lawsuits — brought by Robson in 2013 and Safechuck the
following year — have been brought back after dismissal. The two men became more
widely known for telling their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary “Leaving
Neverland.”

A judge who dismissed the suits in 2021 found that that the corporations, MJJ
Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., could not be expected to function like
the Boy Scouts or a church where a child in their care could expect their
protection. Jackson, who died in 2009, was the sole owner and only shareholder
in the companies.

The higher court judges disagreed, writing that “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.”

They added that “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.”

In July, Jackson estate attorney Jonathan Steinsapir said that the men’s
allegations were unproven and untrue, but apart from that it does not make sense
that employees would be legally required to stop the behavior of their boss.

“It would require low-level employees to confront their supervisor and call them
pedophiles,” Steinsapir said.

Holly Boyer, an attorney for Robson and Safechuck, countered that the boys “were
left alone in this lion’s den by the defendant’s employees. An affirmative duty
to protect and to warn is correct.”

Steinsapir said evidence that has been gathered in the cases, which have not
reach trial, showed that the parents had no expectation of Jackson’s employees
to act as monitors. He said a deposition from Robson’s mother showed she did not
even know the corporations existed when she first brought her 7-year-old son
into the pop star’s presence.

“They were not looking to Michael Jackson’s companies for protection from
Michael Jackson,” Steinsapir said.

Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He
went on to appear in three Jackson music videos.

His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period.

Safechuck, now 45, said in his suit that he was 9 when he met Jackson while
filming a Pepsi commercial. He said Jackson called him often and lavished him
with gifts before moving on to sexually abusing him.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were victims of
sexual abuse. But Robson and Safechuck have come forward and approved of the use
of their identities.

The men’s lawsuits had already bounced back from a 2017 dismissal, when Young
threw them out for being beyond the statute of limitations. Jackson’s personal
estate — the assets he left after his death — was thrown out as a defendant in
2015.

The Jackson estate has adamantly and repeatedly denied that Jackson abused
either of the boys, and has emphasized that Robson testified at Jackson’s 2005
criminal trial, where Jackson was acquitted, that he had not been abused, and
Safechuck said the same to authorities.

The men’s cases were combined for oral argument and may also be tried together.

Left: Michael Jackson prepares to enter the Santa Barbara County Superior Court
to hear the verdict read in his child molestation case June 13, 2005 in Santa
Maria, California. Photo by Kevork Djansezian-Pool/Getty Images


RELATED

 * Michael Jackson’s employees were not legally obligated to prevent sex abuse,
   lawyer argues in court
   
   By Andrew Dalton, Associated Press

 * Judge upholds the $5 million verdict against Trump in E. Jean Carroll’s sex
   abuse and defamation case
   
   By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press

 * ‘The momentum is irreversible.’ More states are removing time limits on child
   sex abuse lawsuits
   
   By David Sharp, Associated Press


GO DEEPER

 * california
 * canvas
 * lawsuit
 * michael jackson
 * sexual abuse

By —

Andrew Dalton, Associated Press Andrew Dalton, Associated Press

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