A judge has set aside a $6.5 million default judgment against Jermaine Jackson, which she previously awarded on behalf of a woman who alleged the singer sexually assaulted the plaintiff at her home in 1988, saying it was “fatal” to not have used the spelling “Jacksun” in the service of process.
Rita Butler Barrett’s Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit alleged sexual battery and assault and negligence. On May 14, Judge Elaine W. Mandel granted the woman’s request for judgment against Jackson for failing to take part in the case. But recently Jackson — who says he has legally changed his name to Jermaine LaJuane Jacksun — filed court papers asking that the default judgment be canceled because he has been living abroad and was never served with the lawsuit or a summons.
Mandel granted the motion nullifying the default judgment on Tuesday.
“The failure to use Jacksun’s true legal name is fatal to the default,” Mandel wrote, adding that publishing notice of the case while Jackson was living overseas was also grounds for voiding service.
Court records show Jackson’s name-change decree was granted in February 2013.
In their opposition to Jackson’s motion to set aside the default, Barrett’s attorneys stated in their court papers that the judge was faced with a fundamental question: “How far must a survivor of sexual assault go to obtain justice against her abuser, particularly when that abuser possesses substantial wealth, influence and resources that enable him to evade accountability?”
To revisit and reverse the prior determinations now, solely because Jackson has appeared and seeks to reopen matters that have been resolved, would undermine the finality of the court’s prior rulings and fail to serve the interests of justice, Barrett’s lawyers further contended, while adding that every reasonable avenue available was taken by Barrett to accomplish service on Jackson.
“Requiring plaintiff to return to the beginning of the litigation at this late stage would not promote fairness or equity; rather, it would constitute a profound miscarriage of justice and reward defendant’s prolonged and strategic absence from these proceedings,” Barrett’s attorneys further wrote in their court papers.
Jackson stated in a sworn declaration that he never abused Barrett.
“I did not rape plaintiff,” Jackson says. “I did not sexually assault plaintiff. I deny the material allegations of the complaint, deny liability and dispute damages. I request the opportunity to defend this case on the merits.”
Jackson further says he has not lived at his mother’s Encino home, where one set of documents was served, since he was a boy and that he does not live at or have a business at the second service address in Westlake Village. Instead, he has been living in Bahrain and knew nothing about the woman’s lawsuit, he says.
In June 2025, the former judge in the case, Huey P. Cotton, granted a motion by Barrett’s attorney, Michael Reck, to perform service by publication rather than present the summons and complaint to Jackson in person.
In her lawsuit, Barrett said she met Jackson when she worked as a musician’s contractor and as a member of the Musician’s Union. Jackson allegedly went to Barrett’s home in the spring of 1988 without notice, entered and sexually assaulted her with “force and violence,” the suit filed in December 2023 stated.
A case management conference is scheduled Sept. 11.