Two lawsuits accusing pop icon Michael Jackson of child sexual abuse, have been revived by the appeal’s court after the statute of limitation was extended by California, as reported by Variety.
The suits were filed by James Safechuck and Wade Robson. Their claims were also the subject of last year’s HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. On Friday, a three-judge panel of California’s 2nd Appellate District reversed two rulings dismissing their lawsuits against Jackson’s companies, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures Inc.
Vince Finaldi, attorney for the plaintiffs, said: “We’re glad the appellate court recognized the very strong protection that California has for kids, and we look forward to litigating these cases to trial.”
Robson and Safechuck sued in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The trial court dismissed both cases because California law requires such cases to be filed before the accuser’s 26th birthday. However, in October, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law extending the deadline to age 40. The law was effective from Wednesday (1 January).
The court issued a tentative ruling after hearing the appeal, indicating that it would revive the suits in light of the new law. The court made the final ruling on Friday (3 January).
The attorney for Jackson’s companies, Howard Weitzman, said in a statement that the lawsuits “absurdly claim that Michael’s employees are somehow responsible for sexual abuse that never happened.”
“The ruling was the result of a change in the law signed by Governor Newsom that extends the time for genuine victims to file claims,” he said. “The Court of Appeal specifically did not address the truth of these false allegations, and we are confident that both lawsuits will be dismissed and that Michael Jackson will be vindicated once again.”
The two men had also sued Jackson’s estate. Jackson passed away in 2009 and the change in state law did not affect the window for filing claims for sex abuse in the court.