Jermaine's legal team is framing this as a technical defense based on proper legal procedure — arguing he was never properly identified in the lawsuit because it targeted his former name, and he maintains he never sexually assaulted Rita Butler Barrett. The request for an opportunity to defend himself signals he's ready to fight this case on the merits if given the chance.
Insiders close to the Jackson family say Jermaine's 2013 name change to 'Jermaine LaJuane Jacksun' has been a point of quiet confusion in legal circles for years — but nobody expected it to become the central argument in a $6.5 million default judgment defense. Sources say his legal team is playing every card they have, because losing this appeal means Jermaine's finances could be gutted by a judgment he claims he never even knew existed until it was too late.
Rita Butler Barrett filed her lawsuit in December 2023, claiming Jermaine unexpectedly showed up at her Encino, California home and 'violently' raped her for several minutes before abruptly stopping. The default judgment of $6.5 million in damages and court fees was awarded in May 2026 after Jermaine never responded — his legal team argues he never received proper notice because service was attempted via Los Angeles Times publication notices between August and September 2025 rather than personal service.
Jermaine's name-change defense is legally creative, but it's a tough sell when $6.5 million is on the table and a rape accusation sits underneath it — either way this case is far from over.
Jermaine Jackson is fighting back against a devastating $6.5 million default judgment in his rape case — and his argument hinges on something that happened more than a decade ago. According to new court documents obtained by Celebrity Bytes, Michael Jackson's older brother wants the entire judgment thrown out because he claims it was obtained through a cascade of legal errors that deprived him of his right to defend himself.
The central issue? His name. Jermaine legally changed it in California back in 2013, switching from "Jermaine Jackson" to "Jermaine LaJuane Jacksun" — and he's now arguing the lawsuit should be voided because plaintiff Rita Butler Barrett sued him under his old, obsolete identity instead of tracking down his current legal name.
It's a technical defense that legal experts say could have merit if he can prove he genuinely never received notice — but it's also one that comes loaded with implications about whether someone can simply rename themselves out of a lawsuit. The alleged incident dates back to December 2023, when Barrett claims Jermaine unexpectedly showed up at her Encino, California home and "violently" raped her for several minutes before abruptly stopping, leaving her traumatized.
She filed her civil suit shortly after, but Barrett's legal team struggled to locate Jermaine for personal service — a requirement in most jurisdictions. After failing to track him down, they received court approval to attempt alternative service through publication in the Los Angeles Times, running consecutive weekly notices between August and September 2025. Here's where it gets murky: Jermaine maintains he never received actual notice of the summons, complaint, or any other legal filings in the case.
He says he didn't attempt to conceal himself — meaning this wasn't a deliberate dodge — but that the published notices were effectively invisible to him because they used his former name and pointed to an identity he's not sure anyone would associate with him anymore. With no response filed, default judgment was entered against him, resulting in $6.5 million in damages and court fees awarded to Barrett in May.
Now Jermaine is requesting a chance to defend himself on the merits of the case — including forcefully denying that he ever sexually assaulted Barrett. His legal team has asked the court to throw out the judgment entirely, arguing it's void due to improper identification and inadequate notice. Celebrity Bytes reached out to Barrett's attorney for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
The case is set to move forward in the coming months, and both sides are preparing for what could become an extremely public battle over whether Jermaine Jacksun — formerly Jackson — can successfully argue his way out of a $6.5 million bill. Regardless of how the court rules on the procedural issues, this one is far from over.
