Name Game: Jackson's Legal Strategy Hinges on 13-Year-Old Name Change

When a $6.5 million judgment lands on your doorstep, the first instinct is often to fight back—and Michael Jackson’s older brother Jermaine Jackson is doing exactly that, but his defense strategy rests on a technicality that raises some eyebrows.

In court documents obtained this week, Jackson is arguing that the entire lawsuit against him should be thrown out because plaintiff Rita Butler Barrett sued him under the wrong name. Specifically, he claims he legally changed his name in California back in 2013 to Jermaine LaJuane Jacksun—but Barrett’s legal team filed under“Jermaine Jackson,”his former name. That procedural error, he contends, invalidates the judgment entirely.

The backstory here matters: Barrett filed her complaint in December 2023, claiming Jackson unexpectedly showed up at her Encino, California home and violently raped her. Unable to locate him for personal service, her attorneys received court approval to run legal notices in the Los Angeles Times between August and September 2025. Jackson never responded, leading to the default judgment in May 2026. Now he’s asserting he never actually received proper notice and therefore had no meaningful opportunity to defend himself.

Beyond the name-change argument, Jackson also denies the allegations entirely and says he never attempted to hide or evade service. He’s requesting the chance to mount a full defense in court—a request that will likely hinge on whether the judge accepts his argument about the name discrepancy and whether Barrett’s legal notice actually reached him.

This case underscores a legal principle that cuts both ways: procedural rules exist to protect defendants’rights, but they can also become escape hatches when applied strictly. Whether Jackson’s name-change claim has real teeth or amounts to a desperate filing remains to be seen when the court rules on his motion.