Michael Jackson's estate has won a court battle to prevent Wade Robson from filing a sexual abuse lawsuit.
Robson sued the estate in 2013, claiming that he had been sexually abused by the King of Pop when he was underage but on Monday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young dismissed the case and found that defendants MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures would not be held liable as they had no ability to control Jackson's behavior.
"There is no evidence supporting Plaintiff’s contention that Defendants exercised control over Jackson," Young said in his ruling cited by Yahoo! News. "The evidence further demonstrates that Defendants had no legal ability to control Jackson, because Jackson had complete and total ownership of the corporate defendants. Without control, there is no special relationship or duty that exists between Defendants and Plaintiff. In addition, there is no evidence of misfeasance by Defendants."
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Robson's lawyer, Vince Finaldi, said there were "data flaws" in the ruling and it would be appealed "to the Court of Appeal, and to the Supreme Court" if necessary.
"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," he said. "The children of our state deserve protection, and we will not stop fighting until we ensure that every child is safe."
Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney for Michael Jackson's estate, said in a statement that Robson had been pursuing "frivolous claims in different lawsuits against Michael Jackson's estate" for several years but his claims were baseless.
"Robson has taken nearly three dozen depositions and inspected and presented hundreds of thousands of documents trying to prove his claims, yet a Judge has once again ruled that Robson's claims have no merit whatsoever, that no trial is necessary, and that his latest case is dismissed," Steinsapir said.
Robson was one of two men to file lawsuits against Michael Jackson's estate. James Safechuck also accused Jackson of molesting him when he was a boy but last year Young found that Safechuck could not sue MJJ Productions Inc., and MJJ Ventures Inc. Young said Safechuck's lawsuit had not demonstrated that he had a relationship with the corporations that would have required them to protect him from Jackson.
"We are pleased that the court dismissed Mr. Safechuck’s case by ruling that he had no grounds to pursue such a lawsuit," Jackson estate attorneys Howard Weitzman and Steinsapir said in a statement.
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Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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