Michael Jackson's defense team hopes that new evidence will prove that the family members of the singer's accuser are "professional plaintiffs" who have lied in past legal proceedings.

In a 2001 lawsuit, the family of Jackson's accuser claimed that they were attacked by security guards from J.C. Penney and Tower Records stores after they were detained for allegedly shoplifting in 1998. The accuser's mother also alleged she was sexually assaulted by one of the guards. The family was awarded more than $150,000 in a settlement with the two companies, according to The Associated Press.

Jackson's attorneys have moved to introduce that lawsuit as evidence, saying it could prove that the mother of the singer's accuser "has used her children to commit frauds on other occasions," and that the family "has committed the crime of perjury on several occasions, which is relevant to her credibility in the present case."

"Rather than admit their culpability in using their children to shoplift," Jackson's attorney Robert Sanger said in the defense's motion, the family "concocted an outrageous story that the security guards responsible for detaining the family assaulted them by using excessive force and she eventually claimed that they sexually assaulted her."

The defense further argued that the 2001 case was settled partially because the boy was battling cancer at the time, and his condition could have swayed the jury to make a decision in his favor.

The prosecution has asked that the judge not allow the defense to introduce the suit as evidence, calling it irrelevant to the current child-molestation case and claiming it would confuse the jury and waste its time.

"The prosecution's concerns regarding confusing the jury and consuming undue time," the defense countered, "are ridiculous in light of the mountain of irrelevant evidence that they presented to the grand jury and now seek to present to the jury."

The Jackson trial, delayed earlier this week when the singer was hospitalized for the flu (see "Michael Jackson, Suffering From Flu, Rushed To Hospital"), is set to resume next week.

For full coverage of the Michael Jackson case, see "Michael Jackson Accused."