The judge has granted the consolidation to Wade Robson and James Safechuck during yesterday hearing.
The duo’s lawyer said he believes defendants MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures – both now owned by the estate – are seeking a trial well beyond his target of February 2025 because the biopic is expected to be largely flattering.
“They want the Michael Jackson biopic to come out before the trial. That’s what I think, … These corporations that facilitated the abuse in the first place, they’re rewriting the history.” said lawyer John C. Carpenter.
A lawyer for Jackson’s companies said during the hearing that her clients plan to waive a three-year speedy trial rule because she believes the case won’t be ready for jurors until after December 2026. She said the trial likely would last more than 20 days with dozens of witnesses.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who granted the consolidation set a follow-up hearing for June 5.
“This case goes back 35 years. There’s been a huge amount of related litigation,” defense lawyer Jennifer L. Keller told the court Wednesday as she argued for the case’s transfer to a new department that handles “complex” disputes. She cited what she called the “highly unusual nature of the pleadings claiming entities of Mr. Jackson should be held responsible for not exercising adequate supervision” and said the court would have to “grapple with” some “very difficult legal issues.”
“I don’t think the matter is complex. It’s certainly old, but I think we can get this done expeditiously,” Carpenter responded. “Most of the discovery has already been done in the Robson case, so I think we’re nearly ready to go,” he said. “They were both children being abused at the same time, so there’s a heavy overlap. With respect to the injuries, that’s where the evidence is different. But liability is the same. These were two boys who were molested.”
Lawyers for the companies are interested in the unaired Leaving Neverland footage. They claimed Safechuck’s allegations differed “materially between his statements in his complaint and those in Leaving Neverland.”
The lawyers added, “Defendants believe there are significant amounts of unused interview footage with Plaintiff (and the plaintiff in the related case, Wade Robson) that will demonstrate additional inconsistencies between Plaintiff’s claims and his later recitations of the alleged abuse, going directly to Plaintiff’s credibility.”
The lawyer for MJ’s companies said they believe the director Reed has the footage, who is located in the United Kingdom. “Defendants may need to use the Hague Convention process to obtain information from Mr. Reed and his production company,” the filing read.
Further, they said there are dozens of third-party witnesses “who have relevant information, several of whom are believed to be located outside the United States.”
In addition, the companies revealed they plan to introduce evidence form Jackson’s criminal cases that were dismissed.
“Additionally, as the Court is likely aware, there have been highly publicized claims previously asserted against Mr. Jackson for sexual abuse that Plaintiff may seek to introduce. Two of these cases, a 1993 grand jury investigation and a 2005 trial both brought by the Santa Barbara district attorney, resulted in substantial testimonial evidence that (depending on the witness and evidence) the parties may seek to introduce or exclude in whole or in part.”
Robson and Safechuck have yet to respond to the calls for a mental examination.
And as expected, Dan Reed was at the court house to film his second fictional movie.
