Alleged victims of Michael Jackson can sue his companies
Two men who say they were sexually molested by Michael Jackson for many years as children can sue the late singing star’s production companies for allegedly enabling the abuse and failing to protect them, a state appeals court ruled Friday.
The lawsuits by James Safechuck and Wade Robson against MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures had been dismissed by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Young, who said the companies had neither the duty nor the ability to control Jackson, their sole owner. But the Second District Court of Appeal said the corporations employed Jackson and “knew he was a danger to young boys.”
When they met Jackson in the late 1980s, the two were “young children” — Safechuck was 9 years old, Robson was 5 — “by definition, vulnerable and dependent upon the adults who took care of them and supervised them,” Justice Beth Grimes wrote in a 3-0 ruling reinstating both suits. She said the companies’ employees “organized and facilitated occasions for the children to be alone with Jackson; and they were aware of the risk that Jackson would molest the children.”
The companies also hired both youths to work with Jackson, in commercials and stage performances, and supervising employees assured their parents that the children would be safe, Grimes said.
Safechuck, now 45, sued Jackson’s companies in 2014. After appearing in a Pepsi commercial with Jackson, he said, he was invited to dinner with his family at the singer’s home, taken on a tour, and, starting in 1988, brought to Jackson’s bedroom for sexual encounters that continued over four years. He said Jackson gave him a wedding-style ring while telling him to deny everything if anyone asked. An estate manager at Jackson’ ranch saw Safechuck’s and Jackson’s underwear near Jackson’s bed, according to the lawsuit.
Robson, 40, was born in Australia. According to his 2013 lawsuit, he was only 2 when he first saw Jackson dancing in a video, became obsessed with his moves, and met Jackson three years later after winning a dance contest. Jackson’s companies sponsored his U.S. visa, and he said the sexual abuse started when he was 7 and continued for seven years. He performed alongside the singer in music videos, and his suit said Jackson’s security guard saw Jackson put his hand on Robson’s crotch on an amusement park ride at his ranch.
Safechuck and Robson were featured in a 2019 film, “Leaving Neverland,” where they aired their accusations against the “King of Pop,” who died in 2009. His estate denied the allegations and has sued HBO, a co-producer of the film.
In response to Friday’s ruling, Jonathan Steinsapir, an attorney for Jackson’s estate, said, “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.”
Vince Finaldi, a lawyer for the two men, said the court was right to overturn Young’s rulings, “which were against California law and would have set a dangerous precedent that endangered children.”
The suits are not the first against Jackson. In 1993, 13year-old Jordan Chandler accused him of molestation. Jackson denied it but agreed to a settlement in 1994, reportedly for $23 million.
However, when prosecutors charged Jackson with criminal child molestation, a jury in Santa Barbara County acquitted him in 2005.