Artist News Business News Legal

Appeals court could revive child abuse lawsuits against Michael Jackson companies

By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 28 July 2023

Two lawsuits filed against companies formally owned by Michael Jackson, which allege that the late pop star sexually abused two children in the 1990s, may be revived. A Californian appeals court issued a tentative decision to that effect earlier this week.

James Safechuck and Wade Robson both accuse Jackson of abusing them as children. Following the musician’s death in 2009, they both sued his estate and companies linked to the star in relation to those abuse allegations. They were also the subject of the ‘Leaving Neverland’ documentary in 2019.

Legal reps for the Jackson estate reject the two men’s allegations of abuse. However, so far the legal battle between Safechuck and Robson, and the companies MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, has mainly centred on legal technicalities.

The lawsuits were initially dismissed because of the statute of limitations under Californian law. At the time, victims of child abuse needed to file any lawsuits in relation to that abuse by the age of 26. Both claimants had passed that age by the time they went legal.

However, a change was then made to Californian law in 2019, so that victims can now make a legal claim against alleged child abusers up to the age of 40. And the following year Safechuck and Robson’s lawsuits were revived.

This led us to technicality number two. Whether or not any abuse took place, are MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures in any way liable for that alleged abuse? The estate has argued that the companies cannot be held liable in this way.

Later in 2020, the Californian judge overseeing the cases basically agreed, dismissing both lawsuits once again. He concurred that it could not be proven that the two companies or their employees had any legal duty to control or stop Jackson. Nor did the employees have the practical power to do so, given the musician was the sole shareholder and director of both companies.

Safechuck and Robson then appealed. And the appeal judges issued their tentative decision – to revive the two lawsuits – before a hearing on Wednesday. Legal reps for the two men and the Jackson companies both then spoke at that hearing.

According to the Press Association, Jonathan Steinsapir, speaking for the Jackson estate, restated his client’s position that the two MJJ companies cannot be liable here. Otherwise, he said, a precedent is being set that “would require low-level employees to confront their supervisor and call them paedophiles”.

He added that, back when Safechuck and Robson spent time with Jackson as children, their respective parents did not assume that employees at the musician’s companies had any sort of oversight role. Indeed, he said, a deposition from Robson’s mother showed that she didn’t know the companies existed at the time.

But, speaking for Safechuck and Robson, Holly Boyer argued that, “because what we are talking about is the sexual abuse of children”, there was an obligation for the MJJ companies and their employees to safeguard the two boys.

“What we are talking about here is seven and ten year old children who are entirely ill-equipped to protect themselves from their mentor, Michael Jackson”, she said, adding that Safechuck and Robson “were left alone in this lion’s den by the defendant’s employees. An affirmative duty to protect and to warn is correct”.

We now await a final ruling from the appeals court.