Michael Jackson’s heirs have won another victory in the reopened lawsuit filed by Wade Robson in 2013, Variety reports . According to a judge, the companies of the singer who died in 2009 cannot be held liable for his alleged sexual abuse of boys.
Robson, who appeared in 2019 in the much-discussed HBO documentary Leaving Neverland , claims that Jackson sexually assaulted him from the age of seven. That was in 1990 and, according to Robson, it would have continued for years.
The judge dismissed the case because the companies that Jackson managed at the time had no legal responsibility whatsoever to protect boys from sexual abuse. The case was previously dismissed, but it was reopened in 2020 because the state of California is giving prosecutors more time to tell their story.
Robson accused Jackson’s companies MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures of enabling the abuse. According to Judge Mark A. Young, this was not the case, because the companies had no say. They all belonged to Michael Jackson during his lifetime.
Robson’s lawyer Vince Finaldi announced that he would appeal against the ruling. “If this decision is not reversed, thousands of children are at risk. Children working in the entertainment industry, where people of power abuse them daily. These children deserve protection and safety.”
Judge Young has previously dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by James Safechuck, who also appeared in Leaving Neverland . An appeal has also been lodged in that case.
Jackson’s lawyers deny that the ‘King of Pop’ was guilty of sexual abuse while he was alive. “Wade Robson has spent eight years suing Jackson’s heirs and all the companies involved. Despite his best efforts, his charges have been dismissed time and again.”