Michael Jackson’s estate is not happy with HBO’s recent lawsuit appeal.
The new court documents come after the King of Pop’s family filed a $100 million lawsuit against the network and its Emmy-Award winning documentary “Finding Neverland” in February. The film follows the claims from Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who claim they were sexually abused by Jackson back when they were children.
But now, HBO is hoping the court system will have the lawsuit tossed out.
“Please take notice that Defendant Home Box Office, Inc. hereby appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from this Court’s order granting Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Arbitration (the “Order”),” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. and Daniel Petrocelli wrote the court Monday, according to Deadline.
But Jackson’s family immediately slammed the appeal, calling it “bogus” and “desperate.”
This bogus appeal is nothing more than HBO’s latest desperate attempt to cover up the truth about its shoddy journalism
Freedman & Taitelman, LLP’s Bryan Freedman said a statement.
For seven months HBO has tried and failed to avoid a public arbitration. This appeal, which is its latest Hail Mary attempt, is even more pathetic than all of its other attempts to avoid public scrutiny. If HBO truly wanted to avoid a judgment, it should have thought about that before it aided and abetted a one-sided documentary without any journalistic integrity and in which the subjects have a huge motivation to lie – namely the millions of dollars for which they are suing the Estate. Our client will never stop until justice is served.
The statement continued by Bryan Freedman
“Leaving Neverland” first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in February.
