Federal Court Sends Michael Jackson Estate Child Trafficking Lawsuit to Arbitration
A federal judge has dismissed a child sex trafficking lawsuit against the Michael Jackson estate, ruling that the claims must be resolved in private arbitration rather than open court.
On Wednesday, August 12, Judge Hernán D. Vera tossed the case brought by four Cascio siblings — Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo — who alleged in a February lawsuit that Jackson raped and molested them as children over more than a decade. The ruling turned not on whether the allegations were true, but on a contract (Billboard).
In 2019, the Jackson estate paid the Cascio family a $3.5 million settlement without admitting wrongdoing. That agreement included a clause requiring future disputes to be handled in confidential arbitration — a private legal process conducted outside the court system, where proceedings are not public. The Cascios argued the settlement was unconscionable, meaning so one-sided it should not be enforced. Judge Vera ruled that those arguments must be presented to an arbitrator, not a court.
The siblings are represented by attorney Howard King. Their February lawsuit was the latest in a series of legal battles connecting abuse allegations against Jackson to the estate's business dealings.
A parallel state-court proceeding reached a similar conclusion. In March, a different California judge overseeing a related case involving Frank Cascio's sexual assault claims ruled that Frank's signature on the same 2019 settlement required arbitration of further disputes (Billboard).
Arbitration clauses have been a recurring flashpoint in the estate's legal strategy. In December 2020, a federal appeals court ruled that the estate's lawsuit against HBO over the documentary Leaving Neverland must also go to arbitration, citing a decades-old contract between the network and Jackson (KSAT).
For the Cascio siblings, the practical effect of Judge Vera's ruling is that their allegations will not be aired in a public trial. Arbitration proceedings are typically sealed, and outcomes are binding. The estate, which controls Jackson's music catalogue and commercial interests, has repeatedly used arbitration clauses to move disputes out of public view.
The estate has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
