A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that four siblings who sued the Michael Jackson estate over sexual assault allegations must take their dispute to private arbitration instead of public court, according to Pitchfork.
Judge Hernán D. Vera said a 2019 settlement agreement signed by Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole, and Aldo Cascio requires enforcement of the arbitration clause. In his decision, he wrote that although the allegations are serious, the court has no choice but to apply the agreement as written.
The siblings’ lawyer, Howard King, said the family is disappointed that the question of whether they were misled into signing the agreement will be decided by an arbitrator rather than a jury. He said the family had hoped for a public trial over what they describe as years of abuse and a cover-up.
According to Pitchfork, the Cascios allege that Michael Jackson abused and trafficked them as children from the late 1980s until shortly before his death in 2009. Their lawsuit says they were given alcohol and hard drugs, kept apart from one another, and threatened with family ruin if they spoke out. A separate case filed by Frank Cascio was also sent to arbitration earlier this year.
The family previously reached a settlement with Jackson’s estate in 2020, with terms that included confidentiality and binding arbitration provisions. Another lawsuit against the estate, filed by James Safechuck and Wade Robson, is currently scheduled for trial in November after being revived in 2023.
