New suit accuses Michael Jackson of sexual assault
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- A lawsuit has been filed accusing pop star Michael Jackson of sexual assault more than 20 years ago -- the memory of which the new accuser says he repressed until recently.
In a civil lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in New Orleans, Jackson is accused of sexual assault and battery, and false imprisonment.
The accuser claims that when he was 18 years old, Jackson had "harmful or offensive contact with an intimate part" of his body, allegedly during a nine-day period in May 1984.
He accuses Jackson of "sexually offensive contacts," cutting him "with a razor blade," puncturing his chest "with steel wire," "biting" him and making him consume "mood-altering substances."
The accuser alleges the crimes took place in a limousine while traveling from Louisiana to California, and in a building in California, and says that in both situations his "freedom of movement" was restrained and he was thus prevented from calling for help.
The accuser also alleges that Jackson and "Jackson's employees, at his direction, directly or indirectly" subjected him to "physical force, intimidation and duress to both allow Jackson to commit false imprisonment" and to "ensure the secrecy of those acts."
He says the ordeal led to "denial, repression, accommodation and disassociation" that caused his experiences with Jackson to be "subconsciously repressed."
According to the document, the accuser, now an adult, "denied the existence" and the "impact" of his false imprisonment until November of 2003, when a television special detailing the current molestation charges the entertainer faces in Santa Barbara County, California, aired and "enabled him to remember the incidents."
"It's certainly not your everyday case," the accuser's attorney, Art Murray, told CNN. "I believe in the claims being made. I wouldn't have filed suit if I didn't."
He declined to discuss the case further other than to point out that the federal requirements to file suit had been met. He said the suit had not yet been served on Jackson.
"We will find out the details and deal with it as we do with all other claims and lawsuits against Michael," longtime Jackson attorney Brian Oxman told CNN. Oxman is also one of the defense attorneys currently representing Jackson against the molestation charges.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for a wide range of alleged physical and emotional harm.
Last June, the Los Angeles Police Department announced that an investigation into other charges of child abuse against Michael Jackson -- in which the alleged victim also claimed to have recently recalled repressed memories of molestation during the 1980s -- found "no evidence that any crime occurred" and said "no charges will be sought."
Sources familiar with the LAPD investigation told CNN the new case is not related to that one.
Jackson is currently battling charges of child molestation, conspiracy and giving alcohol to a minor stemming from a grand jury indictment rendered last April in Santa Barbara County.
