Appeals court sends 'Leaving Neverland' fight to arbitration
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)PASADENA, Calif. – A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a lawsuit filed by the Michael Jackson estate over an HBO documentary about two of the late pop star's sex abuse accusers can go forward in private arbitration. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with two lower courts and ruled in favor of the Jackson estate in its decision on “Leaving Neverland." Unless there are further appeals, the case will go to a private arbitrator, which the Jackson estate argued was required by the 1992 contract at the center of the lawsuit. HBO has also more generally defended “Leaving Neverland” as a valid and important piece of documentary journalism. “Leaving Neverland” director Dan Reed has been filming the hearings in those cases for a follow-up documentary.