An appeals court in California, in the eastern United States, on Friday reopened the cases of two men who accused singer Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, of sexually assaulting them when they were minors.
A three-judge panel of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuits of Wade Robson, 40, and James Safechuck, 45, should not have been dismissed by a lower court.
The decision became possible after California passed a law allowing victims of minor sexual abuse to file a complaint with the court at any age. The previous law stipulated that plaintiffs could only do so up to the age of 40.
The judge who dismissed the lawsuits in 2021 concluded that the two companies that manage Michael Jackson’s wealth cannot be held civilly liable for the singer’s actions.
The judges of the court disagreed: “A company that facilitates child sexual abuse by one of its employees is not relieved of an affirmative duty to protect those children just because it is the exclusive property of the perpetrator of the abuse.” the abuse.”
Attorney representing Michael Jackson’s estate, Jonathan Steinsapir, argued that the allegations were “made only years after Michael’s death by men motivated only by money”.
Wade Robson, who met Michael Jackson when he was five and appeared in three of the singer’s music videos, filed a complaint in 2013 alleging that he had been sexually assaulted over a seven-year period.
The following year, James Safechuck also filed a complaint, saying he had met Michael Jackson while filming an ad, when he was nine years old, and had been sexually assaulted by the singer.
An attorney representing the plaintiffs, Vince Finaldi, said in an email, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, that the trial judge’s decision “would have set a dangerous precedent for children across the state and the country to would endanger”.
It is the second time the trials have been reopened, having already been dismissed in 2017.
In 1993, a complaint was made public by a 13-year-old boy who claimed to have been the victim of sexual abuse by Michael Jackson. The singer was found not guilty and received compensation of around 23.3 million dollars (21.4 million euros).
In 2003, Jackson stated in a British documentary that he enjoyed sleeping with young boys, with “all innocence”.
The singer was acquitted again in 2005 in a trial in which he was accused of sexually abusing minors.
Michael Jackson died in 2009, aged 50, of cardiac arrest.
Source: DN
