An appellate court has ruled corporations owned by late megastar Michael Jackson are on the hook for lawsuits alleging Jackson molested two boys, despite the corporations' claims they were helpless to stop the alleged abuse because Jackson ran everything.
The Aug. 18 ruling was penned by Justice Elizabeth Grimes, with concurrence from Justices John Shepard Wiley Jr. and Victor Viramontes, of California Second District Appellate Court. The ruling favored James Safechuck and Wade Robson in their suits against late singer Michael Jackson's MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, overturning dismissal of the actions by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.
Robson said he was four years old when he met Jackson at a dance contest in 1987. Jackson befriended Robson and hired him in 1990 to perform with Jackson in music videos and photo shoots. Jackson molested him from 1990 to 1997, Robson asserted.
Safechuck was nine years old in the late 1980s, when he worked on a television commercial with Jackson, who befriended Safechuck and his family, giving them expensive gifts, according to court papers. Safechuck alleged Jackson molested him hundreds of times betweem 1988 and 1992, and performed a "marriage" with him, pretending they were "married." The alleged abuse stopped after Safechuck reached puberty and Jackson allegedly started grooming a younger boy, according to court papers.
In 2003, Jackson was charged with child molestation, but was later acquitted. Jackson died at age 50 in 2009.
Robson and Safechuck separately filed suits against Jackson's corporations in 2013 and 2014 respectively. They alleged Jackson's employees knew of and-or facilitated the abuse. The suits were dismissed chiefly on grounds the corporations had no control over Jackson's alleged actions, because Jackson was sole shareholder.
As the judge in both cases, Mark A. Young, put it, "Jackson had absolute legal control over the entities and everyone employed by them."
On appeal, Justice Grimes found fault with the lower court's conclusions.
"Plaintiffs had every right to expect defendants to protect them from the entirely foreseeable danger of being left alone with Jackson. Any director, employee or other agent of defendants who knew of or suspected abuse could have done something to protect plaintiffs’ welfare. There is evidence defendants knew of Jackson's dangerous proclivities," Grimes said.
Grimes pointed out the two corporations employed plaintiffs and "had some control over and responsibility for plaintiffs' welfare" and "were best situated to prevent the alleged injuries."
Grimes added, "Defendants’ agents had a duty to jeopardize their positions and compensation to protect plaintiffs. We reject the notion that defendants were powerless to do anything about abuse that was ongoing since 1990."
Justice Wiley elaborated on Grimes' reasoning.
"To treat Jackson’s wholly-owned instruments as different from Jackson himself is to be mesmerized by abstractions. This is not an alter ego case. This is a same ego case," Wiley said.
Wiley continued, "The question in this case is whether Michael Jackson, as puppetmaster of his two wholly-owned corporations, could have taken cost-effective steps to avoid the harm the plaintiffs allege he inflicted upon them. The answer is yes. Jackson could have restrained himself."
Safechuck and Robson have been represented by John C. Manly, Vince W. Finaldi and Alexander E. Cunny, of Manly, Strewart & Finaldi, of Irvine, and by Holly N. Boyer and Kevin K. Nguyen, of Chang, Boyer & Murphy, of Pasadena and Walnut Creek.
MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures have been defended by Alana H. Rotter, of Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland, of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and by Aaron C. Liskin, Katherine T. Kleindienst, Suann C. MacIsaac and Jonathan P. Steinsapir, of Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir, of Los Angeles.