Choreographer Wade Robson is heading to court again in a new trial linked to his molestation allegations against the late Michael Jackson.
The professional dancer, who has worked with Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, and NSYNC, launched a negligence lawsuit against executives at Jackson's companies MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures in September (16), claiming the businesses were illegitimate and set up as a ruse to covertly "operate as a child sexual abuse operation".
And now he has been given a chance to prove his accusations next year (18).
According to the New York Daily News, a Los Angeles judge has ruled the case will officially go to trial on 5 March, 2018.
Wade's attorneys now plan to spend the next 12 months "gaining access to the materials needed for a much-anticipated trial".
"We look forward to completing that discovery and disclosing to the public, through trial, the full extent of Michael Jackson’s serial sexual abuse of children, which was facilitated through his companies MJJ Productions and (MJJ) Ventures,” his lawyer Vince Finaldi said in a statement.
However, attorneys representing the companies have little faith the case will make it to trial in 2018, with lawyer Howard Weitzman telling the Daily News, "My opinion is that summary judgment will be granted in this case and there won’t be any trial, but the court did set a trial date for a year away just in case."
Robson, 34, initially launched a claim against Jackson's estate in 2013, but his legal bid was rejected by the courts with magistrates contending he filed papers too late after the singer's 2009 death. The choreographer, who testified in the pop star's defence during his criminal sex abuse trial in 2005, attests Jackson performed sexual acts on him from the ages of seven to 14.
Wade didn't come forward with his assault claims until after Michael's death, because he did not believe he was molested until he entered psychotherapy following a nervous breakdown in 2012.
