A California judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by choreographer Wade Robson, who had alleged that late singer Michael Jackson had molested him as a child, PTI reported.
Robson’s lawsuit was against two companies owned by Michael Jackson’s estate. Robson, now 35, had filed negligence claims against MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures.
Judge Mitchell L Beckloff ruled the companies were not liable for Robson’s exposure to Jackson as “no one other than Michael Jackson had the legal ability or authority to control Michael Jackson”.
The judge, however, did not rule on the credibility of Robson’s allegations, USA Today reported.
The court’s ruling resolves one of the last major claims against the late singer’s holdings, AP reported.
Robson had testified in Jackson’s defense when the singer was on trial in 2005. Robson said he had spent the night at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch more than 20 times and usually slept in Jackson’s room, but Jackson never molested him. Jackson was acquitted in that trial.
But in 2013, four years after Jackson’s death, Robson filed the lawsuit against the Jackson estate and claimed the singer molested him over a seven-year period. In 2015, a court ruled that Robson had filed his lawsuit too late to get any part of Jackson’s estate.
This left two defendants, both owned by Jackson when he was alive – MJJ Productions, Inc., and MJJ Ventures, Inc, the AP report said.
The judge ruled on Tuesday that those two corporate defendants could not be held responsible for Robson’s exposure to Jackson. Robson’s lawyer told AP they will challenge the ruling.
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