Although Sunday marked the 14th anniversary of the death of King of Pop Michael Jackson, the California Court of Appeals has now paved the way for a rehearing of the lawsuit filed by choreographer Wade Robson, who alleges he was sexually abused by Jackson as a child between the ages of 7 and 14, gossip site TMZ reported Monday.
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Robson, now 40, is suing Jackson's production company MJJ, with lawyers for the company arguing that the company had no legal responsibility to protect Robeson or anyone else from Jackson because they had no ability to control his actions.
While in 2005 – during the high-profile trial of Jackson accused of a series of sexual abuse of minors (and was eventually acquitted) – Robson testified that the late singer did not sexually abuse him, years later he changed his version and claimed that Jackson had committed a long list of sexual inappropriate acts on him.
Michael Jackson, photo: AFP
In 2013, four years after Jackson's death, Robeson sued for the late singer's estate, but the suit was dismissed in 2017 by the court on the grounds that it was filed after the statute of limitations for such claims had already expired.
Leaving Neverland - Trailer. Courtesy of yes
In 2019, thanks to an amendment to the law extending the time period for abused minors to file a lawsuit against abusers, the door to a rehearing of Robeson's lawsuit opened, but in 2021 the court rejected it on the grounds that Jackson's estate had no responsibility to care for Robson's safety and well-being.
Michael Jackson, photo: AFP
Now, two years after it appeared that the lawsuit had been sealed and closed, the appeals court reversed the previous ruling and approved another hearing on the lawsuit, opening the door to refiling a lawsuit for James Safechak, who starred alongside Robson in the scandalous 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland," in which the two detailed the series of alleged sexual abuses they endured as children over the years at Jackson's hands.
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