Michael Jackson sexual abuse lawsuits revived by US appeals court

nme.com:

Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children can resume their lawsuits, a court of appeals has ruled.Wade Robson and James Safechuck – who featured in the two-part 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland – alleged that Jackson groomed and sexually abused them in the 1990sA California appeals court said Friday (August 18) that the case should not have been dismissed to a lower court, and they can now pursue lawsuits against companies owned by the late singer, according to Associated Press.It’s the second time that the lawsuits, brought by Robson and Safechuck in 2013 and 2014, respectively, have been brought back after dismissal.The judge who dismissed the suits in 2021 found that MJJ Productions Inc.

and MJJ Ventures Inc. did not have a legal duty to protect the children from the alleged abuse.The higher court disagreed and 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.”They added: “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.”Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney for the Jackson estate, said they were “disappointed” by the decision.“Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it,” Steinsapir said via email to 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.