03 Aug JUDGE TO MICHAEL JACKSON’S “SECOND FAMILY”: THERE WILL BE NO COURT “THRILLER”
A federal district judge has dismissed the sexual abuse and child trafficking lawsuit by Michael Jackson’s “second family” (Edward, Dominic, Marie, Nicole and Aldo Cascio) against the Estate of Michael Jackson. The court determined their case must be decided by arbitration in private instead of a public court proceeding. It is likely the attorneys for the Cascio family wanted a public setting so that it would put more pressure on the Estate to settle the case as molestation and abuse claims would again be in the public eye unlike arbitration, which is private.
Initially the Cascio family defended Michael Jackson and called themselves his “second family” as he took them to Europe and other trips when they were minors. The abuse allegedly happened over two decades ago.
Originally one of the Cascios stated on the Oprah Winfrey show that Jackson was never inappropriate. Later he stated Jackson had a love for children and he “was innocent and profoundly misunderstood”.
However, in 2019, the Cascio family signed an agreement with Jackson’s Estate whereby they were paid for their silence a reported $3.5 million to $16 million payout structure which ended last year. The agreement had no admission of wrongdoing by Jackson. Now that the funds from the settlement have been fully paid, the Cascio family is saying they were duped into signing an unconscionable agreement. They have gone public with statements how Jackson gave them drugs and alcohol as children and sexually abused, assaulted and raped them. The attorneys for the Estate have argued the attempt to have a public hearing is a “desperate money grab.”
The Cascio family has argued that the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 voided the 2019 agreement. The federal law signed in 2022 invalidates pre-dispute arbitration agreements and gives victims of sexual abuse, harassment or assault the choice of going to a public court instead of being bound by arbitration which is private. The law became effective March 3, 2022. As a result, the federal judge ruled that since the agreement between Jackson’s Estate and the Cascio family predated the effective date of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, that the prior agreement was grandfathered and the Cascio family is bound to arbitration.
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