A panel of three judges from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal have ruled that the sexual abuse lawsuits brought against Michael Jackson by Wade Robson and James Safechuck should have never been dismissed.
A new California law made the lawsuit revival possible, as it broadens the scope of sexual abuse cases, even though in these particular lawsuits, the statute of limitations initially expired. It’s the second time that the lawsuits have been revived after a judge dismissed them in 2021, after ruling that the corporations, MJJ Productions, Inc., and MJJ Ventures, Inc., could not be held responsible for the safety of the two children at the time. Michael Jackson, who passed away in 2009, was the sole owner and only shareholder of both companies.
However, the three-judge panel disagreed with the 2021 judge’s dismissal, and ruled 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.”
The attorney of Michael Jackson’s estate spoke out after the ruling saying, “Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it. 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 motivated solely by money.”
Both Wade’s and Jame’s cases have been combined for oral argument, and there’s a possibility they will be tried together.
