Wade has consistently said that one of the main aims of his lawsuit against the Estate is to encourage and support other victims of child sexual abuse to come forward.
Fans say:
The lawsuit was originally filed under seal and Robson tried to extract a settlement from the estate with zero publicity. Only when the estate refused to pay a bean did he go public.
This is untrue. From the very start, when Wade’s lawyers filed on May 1, 2013, the lawsuit was public. His lawyers submitted legal documents asking for permission to file a late creditor claim against the estate over childhood sexual abuse.
Wade’s filing appeared as normal in the public list of documents available on the LA Court website. It was not hidden.
Only Wade’s complaint which detailed the abuse was filed under seal, which meant that its contents couldn’t be seen by the general public. This is because the complaint contained explicit and graphic descriptions of sexual abuse as well as details on Wade’s mental health. However, it’s general contents weren’t a secret and the premise behind the lawsuit wasn’t a secret.
Gradstein filed a motion seeking permission to file a late creditor’s claim against Jackson’s estate on 1 May, nearly four years after the singer’s death, court records show. Most of the documents are sealed pending a June court hearing, but a summary of the documents states the choreographer includes a declaration from a psychiatrist and an “Unfiled Complaint for Childhood Sexual Abuse.”
Anyone checking the documents on the LA Court website could easily verify this.
https://www.lacourt.org/paonlineservices/civilImages/preview.aspx?id=1695755721&ct=PROBATE
When Judge Beckloff held a hearing in early June 2013 to decide which sections of Wade’s pleadings to release to the public, News Limited reported that the Estate wanted the entire complaint remain sealed.
On Thursday, Mr Beckloff presented attorneys with possible redactions of Robson’s sworn declaration and said it should serve as a roadmap for what information can be made public.
The judge believes some of the material could be made public, even though attorneys on both sides would like the case sealed in its entirety.
Some of Robson’s private and personal information, including a paragraph that detailed his allegations of abuse by Jackson, should be sealed, Mr Beckloff said.
He also said portions of the records that deal with mental health issues also should not be released.
“There aren’t a lot of redactions,” Mr Beckloff said of his suggestions.
Attorneys for Robson and Jackson’s estate will review the suggestions by the judge and report back at a hearing on June 25, the fourth anniversary of Jackson’s death.
That the Estate attempted to have Wade’s complaint remain under seal is evidenced in Judge Beckloff’s ruling on June 25 2013:
The court does not seal the additional material for which sealing was requested in the Further Brief of the Executors of the Estate of Michael J. Jackson Regarding the Sealing of Certain Documents Submitted in Connection with Wade Robson’s Petition to File a Late Claim and Related Civil Complaint filed June 24, 2013 by the Executors of the Estate.
After considering and balancing the proposed redactions, the resumption of open court records, and the factors contained in CRC Rule 2.550(d), the court finds that the justification offered for the sealing is outweighed by the right of public access to the record.
http://ww3.lacourt.org/api/documents/v2/open/preview/1547249234(1).pdf
(FURTHER BRIEF OF THE EXECUTORS OF THE ESTATE OF MICHAEL J. JACKSON REGARDING THE SEALING OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS – https://www.lacourt.org/paonlineservices/civilImages/preview.aspx?id=1695751001&ct=PROBATE)
It is clear that the lawsuit was public, that Wade’s accusation of child sexual abuse against Jackson was public, and it is clear Wade only wanted his complaint to be sealed due to the sensitive nature of its contents, not to “extract a settlement from the estate”.
It is also clear that it was the Estate that was trying to keep the details of Wade’s claim from the public. Fans have twisted things on their head in an attempt to discredit Wade. It didn’t work.