DOCUMENT: Crime

Jacko Accuser Seeks Damages In Memo "Leak"

Internal child welfare report was obtained by The Smoking Gun

View Document

Jacko Accuser Seeks Damages In Memo "Leak"

MAY 26--The boy at the center of the Michael Jackson molestation case and his family yesterday registered a legal claim against the County of Los Angeles, claiming that they were damaged by the "leak" to The Smoking Gun of a confidential memo detailing how a child welfare probe concluded that the family's allegations of abuse against the singer were "unfounded." The family's formal "claim for damages," a copy of which you'll find below, was filed with L.A.'s Board of Supervisors and sets the stages for a future civil action seeking monetary damages. If a claim is not settled administratively, a petitioner can then file a lawsuit against the county. The family's claim (we've redacted names to conceal the child's identity) was filed by attorney Larry Feldman, who contended that the Department of Children & Family Services was guilty of a "total failure" in protecting the privacy rights of the accuser, his two siblings, and the boy's mother. The claim, which does not specify damage amounts, charges that DCFS has not "even had the human decency to apologize" to the family. (3 pages)