Jermaine Jackson, the older brother of the late Michael Jackson and a member of the Jackson 5, is accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Jackson, 69, is being sued by Rita Barrett, who claims the singer sexually assaulted her in 1988. Barrett is suing Jackson for sexual battery, assault, sexual assault and negligence. She is pushing for a jury trial to resolve the case.
Barrett, the wife of Ben Barrett, a friend and business partner of Motown record label founder Berry Gordy, alleges that Jackson “violently and forcefully sexually assaulted” her in or about the spring of 1988 after forcing his way into her home. The lawsuit states that Barrett “feared for her life” during the alleged assault and that she suffered “in silence and shame for decades.”
Barrett also claims that Gordy, now 94, who was a family friend at the time, “withheld and concealed the acts, further perpetuating the cover-up.”
“Because of his relationships with both Jackson's and Barrett's families,” the lawsuit says, “Mr. Gordy was in a unique position to both report the attack” and assist Barrett after the incident.
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Jackson and Gordy for comment.
The lawsuit names Jackson's companies Jermaine L. Jackson Music Productions and Work Records as co-defendants.
Barrett filed her lawsuit under California's Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, which allows civil suits in sexual assault cases that now exceed the statute of limitations when “one or more legal entities are legally responsible for damages and the legal entity or its Representatives are involved in a 'cover-up'.”
The law requires lawsuits to be filed by the end of 2023 or by the end of 2026 for attacks that have occurred since 2009.
Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and former Recording Academy CEO Mike Greene were accused of sexual assault in separate lawsuits earlier this month.
Under a similar law in New York, lawsuits were brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs and his former Bad Boy president Harve Pierre, Jamie Foxx, Axl Rose, Russell Brand, Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine, music executive LA Reid and Cuba Gooding Jr. filed. , and more.
Pop music magnate Michael Jackson was also accused of sexual abuse before and after his death in 2009, with the charges against him being reinstated by an appeals court earlier this year. The younger Jackson brother is accused in lawsuits filed by Wade Robson and James Safechuck of sexually abusing them for years as boys.
Adult Survivors Act: Why so many sexual assault lawsuits have been filed under New York law