Michael Jackson lawsuits: Wade Robson and James Safechuck Leaving Neverland abuse allegations revived

A US appeals court has found that lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by pop star Michael Jackson and filed by two men against companies owned by the singer should not have been thrown out by a lower court in 2021.

Wade Robson and James Safechuck spoke about their allegations in the 2019 HBOdocumentary Leaving Neverland. The Jackson estate attempted to sue HBO for $100 million after the documentary aired, and following its release sales of Jackson's music actually increased.

After initially defending Jackson against allegations of abuse in 2005, Robson filed a lawsuit claiming that the singer has sexually abused him several times when he was between the ages of seven and 14. He filed a suit against the Jackson estate and the companies MJJ Productions Inc and MJJ Ventures.

Safechuck filed a lawsuit against the same two companies in 2014, alleging that Jackson, who died in 2009, had abused him on hundreds of occasions when he was a child.

Both men detailed their claims of abuse in the 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. The lawsuits filed by both men have been dismissed twice, but this month they were revived on appeal, and the men could take the companies to trial.  

What are the lawsuits against Michael Jackson’s companies?

Robson, 40, first met Jackson when he was five years old and he appeared in three of the pop singer’s music videos. Robson alleges in his lawsuit that Jackson molested him over a period of seven years.

Safechuck, 45, met Jackson when he was nine. He also alleges that he was sexually abused by the star. The lawsuits are levelled against two companies,  MJJ Productions Inc and MJJ Ventures Inc, which were owned by Jackson at the time that the abuse is alleged to have occurred.

Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney for the Jackson 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."

Why were the lawsuits revived?

Both lawsuits were first thrown out by a judge in 2017 on the grounds that the companies could not be held responsible for Jackson’s alleged behaviour and that the statute of limitations had expired.

The suits were revived in 2019 as a new low was introduced that allowed alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse longer to file lawsuit.

In 2021 a judge ruled that Robson and Safechuck could not take their case against companies that were owned by the late singer at the time the alleged abuse took place because these companies did not have a responsibility to protect them.

However, a three judge panel from a Court of Appeal in California overturned the 2021 decision and found that the companies, of which Jackson had been the sole owner, did have a duty to protect children from abuse. 

Explaining the decision to revive the lawsuits, the judges wrote: "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."

Where can you watch Leaving Neverland?

Leaving Neverland is available to watch in the UK on Netflix, Channel 4 online, and Sky. It is also available to watch for free on Amazon Prime Video with a seven day Sundance Now free trial. Alternatively you can rent it from Prime from £1.89.