A judge on Monday, April 27, dismissed the latest lawsuit of Wade Robson who alleged that Michael Jackson sexually abused him as a child. The Thriller creator’s estate was granted the request to dismiss the suit brought in 2013 by Robson. Robson sued in 2013 claiming Jackson sexually abused him for nearly a decade and his companies, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, facilitated the alleged crime.
The estate, which controls the entities, argued it’s entitled to summary judgment because the companies owed Robson no legal duty and had no ability to control Jackson’s behavior. According to The Associated Press, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young said Jackson’s two entertainment corporations targeted by the lawsuit had no legal duty to protect Robson from Jackson.
“There is no evidence supporting plaintiff’s contention that defendants exercised control over Jackson,” the judge wrote. “The evidence further demonstrates that defendants had no legal ability to control Jackson, because Jackson had complete and total ownership of the corporate defendants.”
The judge previously dismissed a a similar lawsuit in October by James Safechuck. Both men made allegations in the HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland” that Jackson molested them.
Judge Mitchell Beckloff previously dismissed Robson’s suit in December 2017, finding that it was filed outside the statute of limitations. The lawsuit was revived by an appeals court in early 2020 after California enacted a law that extended the age by which people must file child sexual assault claims against third parties from 26 to 40. Vince Finaldi, Robson and Safechuck’s lawyer, plans to appeal the decision.
“If allowed to stand, the decision would set a dangerous precedent that would leave thousands of children working in the entertainment industry vulnerable to sexual abuse by persons in places of power,” Finaldi told The Associated Press.
Robson, now a 38-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He went on to appear in Jackson’s music videos and record music on his label. He was a member of the child rap duo Quo, which was signed to Michael Jackson’s Epic Records subsidiary, MJJ Music.
