A California appeals court is to consider reviving the dismissed lawsuits of two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children for years.
The court appears likely to approve the move after a tentative decision that would order the cases back to a lower court for trial.
The suits were filed after Jackson’s 2009 death by Wade Robson in 2013 and James Safechuck the following year. The two men became more widely known for telling their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
Both sued MJJ Productions Inc and MJJ Ventures Inc, two corporations for which Jackson was the sole owner and lone shareholder.
In 2021, Superior Court Judge Mark A Young ruled that the two corporations and their employees had no legal duty to protect Mr Robson and Mr Safechuck from Jackson and threw out the suits.
But in a tentative decision last month, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed that judge and ordered the cases back to trial.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the Jackson estate will try to convince the appeals court to reverse course.
The lawsuits have already bounced back from a 2017 dismissal, when Judge Young threw them out for being beyond the statute of limitations.
A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of sexual abuse cases led the appeals court to restore them.
Jackson’s personal estate – the assets he left after his death – was thrown out as a defendant in 2015.
Mr Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was five years old. He went on to appear in the star’s music videos and record on his label.
His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period. It says he was Jackson’s employee, and the two corporations had a duty to protect him in the same way the Boy Scouts or a school would need to protect children from their leaders.
Mr Safechuck, now 45, says in his suit that he met Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial when he was nine. He said Jackson called him often and lavished him with gifts before moving on to a series of incidents of sexual abuse.
The Jackson estate has adamantly and repeatedly denied that the singer abused either of the boys, and has emphasised that Mr Robson gave evidence at Jackson’s 2005 criminal trial that he had not been abused, and Mr Safechuck said the same to authorities.
Both men have repeatedly come forward and approved being named.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.
