'Leaving Neverland' accusers can pursue lawsuits against Michael Jackson

FILE PHOTO: Michael Jackson arrives at the Oxford University Union to give a lecture, and launch his global initiative for children 'Heal the Kids' in Oxford, England, March 6, 2001. REUTERS/Russell Boyce/File Photo




'Leaving Neverland' accusers can pursue lawsuits against Michael Jackson's companies: appeals court 

Jill Serjeant



(Reuters) - Two men featured in a 2019 documentary alleging sexual abuse by Michael Jackson were given the go-ahead on Friday to pursue claims against two of the late singer’s companies.


A California appeals court ruled that Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who appeared in “Leaving Neverland,” could pursue their claims because of a change in California law.

Robson and Safechuck say they were befriended by Jackson and were abused by him from the ages of 7 and 10 in the early 1990s.

Jackson died in 2009 but the singer’s family has denied the claims and described “Leaving Neverland” as a “public lynching.” Jackson was acquitted at a 2005 trial in California on charges of molesting a different, 13-year-old, boy.


The appeal court said it was not ruling on the truth of the allegations by Robson and Safechuck but said they involved accusations of “a disturbing years-long pattern of child sexual abuse by international superstar Michael Jackson.”




Link: https://reut.rs/36oyS4T