Two men who accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them as children may resume their lawsuits against companies belonging to the singer, who died in 2009. The decision was the California Court of Appeals, this Friday (18). The information is from the New York Times.
Wade Robson, 40, and James Safechuck, 45, allege that the singer abused them for years and that employees of his two companies – MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc. – were complicit, acting as his “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 stories of the two accusers were featured in the documentary “Leaving Neverland”, shown on HBO in 2019. The two companies are now owned by the artist, who has repeatedly denied having abused 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 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”.
The cases, which were consolidated in the appeals court, will now go back to a lower court.
Source: Folha
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