— A California appeals court on Wednesday will consider reviving the dismissed lawsuits of two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children for years, a move the court appears likely to make after a tentative decision that would order the cases back to a lower court for trial.
Both sued MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., two corporations of 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 Robson and 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.
Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He went on to appear in Jackson music videos and record music on his label. His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period. It says that he was Jackson's employee and the employees of two corporations had a duty to protect him the same way the Boy Scouts or a school would need to protect children from their leaders.