MICHAEL Jackson’s lawyers argued his companies had no duty to prevent alleged sexual abuse by making a twisted comparison to drowning children.
Never-seen-before appeals court footage set to air tonight in a new documentary reveals a legal showdown between Jackson’s team and lawyers for the singer’s accusers.
Michael Jackson waves to his supporters as he arrives for his child molestation trial at the Santa Barbara County Superior Court in March 2005[/caption]
Wade Robson met Michael Jackson when he was seven[/caption]
James Safechuck met the star when he was nine[/caption]
Wade Robson and James Safechuck have levelled graphic allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson, starting when they were seven and nine years old.
Jackson, who died in 2009, repeatedly denied all accusations of sexual abuse made against him.
Robson, 42, and Safechuck, 47, are still in the midst of a ten-year legal wrangle as they battle to have their cases heard.
Newly-revealed footage of an appeal court hearing from 2023 shows lawyers arguing two of his companies had no liability for the actions of their key shareholder – Jackson.
They claimed his two companies had no more responsibility towards children brought to Neverland Ranch than a bystanding Olympic swimmer would have towards a drowning child in a pool.
Jackson estate lawyer Jonathan Steinsaper says: “Look, the common law is that an Olympic-trained swimmer can walk past a swimming pool and see a child drowning in it.
“And if there’s no special relationship, he’s not a lifeguard, this and that, he’s allowed to walk past it. Okay, that’s a very harsh rule, but it is the rule.”
Robson and Safechuck’s lawyer Holly Boyer responds: “The example that they are a bystander walking by a child drowning in a pool ignores the fact that they facilitated that child being at the pool, they picked up the child, they drove the child to the pool, they took his parents and put them in the other room.
“So there was a role that was played that I think is… is ignored.”
Watching the footage, Vince Finaldi – lawyer for Robson and Safechuck – commented: “The Jackson team don’t agree that they had any duty whatsoever to protect these kids.
“[According to their pool analogy] you could just stand there and watch the child die.”
Jackson’s estate lawyers ultimately failed to convince the three Justices of their argument.
The court ruled in Robson and Safechuck’s favour, sending the case back to the courts for trial in 2026.
Original lawsuits against Jackson, first Robson’s in 2013 and then Safechuck’s a year later, were thrown out because the time period under which a former child abuse victim could take legal action had expired.
The new Channel 4 documentary Leaving Neverland II: Surviving Michael Jackson – which airs tonight at 9pm – follows their crushing setbacks at the appeals court.
Jackson’s defence successfully used the statute of limitations and insisted that the corporations owned by Jackson could not be held accountable for his alleged past actions.
Robson is fighting for justice[/caption]
Safechuck is also battling to have his case heard[/caption]
But, in the wake of the ‘me too’ movement, the statute of limitations was changed in California in October 2023- meaning Robson and Safechuck are finally to have their day in court.
Finaldi said: “[Jackson’s companies] could have supervised any time that Michael Jackson was with these kids.
“They could have warned the parents. They could have called the police.
“They didn’t do what a reasonable person would have done in order to protect these kids, and as a result the kids were damaged, and therefore they’re liable.”
Robson was first introduced to Jackson after winning a dance competition in his native Australia and, at seven, travelled to Neverland with his family.
When it was time for them to go, Jackson persuaded his starstruck parents to let him stay at the ranch – and the alleged abuse began as soon as they drove away.
Robson said: “From how I met Michael in the first place, to how we met again. And then once we became friends, all of my interactions with him were organised by the people who worked for him and worked with him.
“There was knowledge that there was something weird going on, and nobody in the organisation seemingly did anything about it.”
Safechuck, who met Jackson at the age of nine while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1987, accused the King of Pop of molesting him about 100 times.
He said: “People must have known. It’s hard to imagine being okay with the constant cycle of kids coming in and out… I can’t imagine how they didn’t know.”
An out-of-court settlement was made with Jordan Chandler, after he filed a 1993 lawsuit alleging the singer molested him when he was 13.
He was paid £18 million.
In 2005, Jackson was brought to trial after 12-year-old Gavin Arvizo, who had cancer, told a therapist that the singer had fondled him in his private parts.
Jackson was cleared following the trial.
Jackson’s estate has vehemently denied all allegations of sexual abuse made against the star.
Leaving Neverland II: Surviving Michael Jackson airs on Channel 4 on Tuesday, March 18 at 9pm
