INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Michael Jackson accusers can pursue lawsuits against his companies - appeals courtTwo 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 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 family has denied the claims and described Leaving Neverlandas a &public lynching.& Jackson was
acquitted at a 2005 trial in California on charges of molesting a different, 13-year-old, boy.A lower court had dismissed lawsuits brought
by the two, now adult, men because California statute of limitations had required that claims of childhood sexual assault be filed before an
The revised law, which came into effect on Jan
1, extends the period until an accuser 40th birthday.We are pleased that the Court has recognized the strong protections California has put
into place for sexual abuse victims under the state new law extending the statute of limitations,& Vince Finaldi, the lawyer for the two
men, said in a statement after the ruling by the Second Appellate District in the California Court of Appeals.We look forward to sharing the
facts of the terrible abuse of James Safechuck and Wade Robson with a jury,& Finaldi added.An attorney for Jackson estate said he was
confident that both lawsuits, against MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, would be dismissed.The Court of Appeal ruling merely revived
lawsuits against Michael Jackson companies, which absurdly claim that Michael employees are somehow responsible for sexual abuse that never
happened,& attorney Howard Weitzman said in a statement.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.TheIndianSubcontinent has not verified the content of the source
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