ALERT: All Child Abuse Lawsuits have been settled. Millions cashed out??? (page 16)

Nosferatu

At least the Witnesses are working on the problem. Is the Catholic clergy working on their problems? Nope.

Do you have any proof to back that up? Nope.

dedpoet

Need I Remind You Again (who I'm sure came in under a similar name earlier today) said

At least the Witnesses are working on the problem

They are indeed. They are working exceptionally hard to keep it a secret from their members.

Just remember NIRYA/NIRY/QBert/Fred E Hathaway, the watchtower settled out of court in
all 14 child abuse lawsuits that were being brought against them. Knowing there aversion to
parting with money, if they thought any could have been won, they would have pursued them,
so settling in the way they have looks pretty much like an admission of guilt, or the nearest
thing to one that we'll ever get from the watchtower, to me

144001

Hear hear. I agree. That's right. At least the Witnesses are working on the problem. Is the Catholic clergy working on their
problems? Nope.

Working on the problem? They only thing the Watchtower is working on is developing a prudent legal strategy that will minimize their monetary liability in these matters.

It's interesting how Witnesses always attack the catholic religion, although catholics do not even mention JWs unless asked about them. My understanding of this phenomenon is that in the early days of this cult, the leaders of it chose to attack the catholic faith in an effort to obtain publicity and notoriety for their cult, a sort of publicity stunt. These are modern times, folks, and history has proven the JW cult to be more repugnant than catholicism.

bluesapphire

The Watch Tower Society suffered huge losses in these cases at the motion level. The Society lost their own legal department's staff information, the legal department's role in responding to and investigating abuse cases, and Watch Tower legal's records relating to allegations of abuse. That was HUGE!

Questions for Gary or anyone:

1. Did the losses at the motion level set precedents that can be used even though they settled?

2. Was the legal department shown to be negligent in the way they handled the "investigation" (which basically means they investigate how to cover their butts)?

3. How (in what way) did they suffer losses with regard to their legal records relating to abuse allegations? I was under the impression the "pedophile file" was not disclosed and may have been purged.

Doubting Bro

Knowing there aversion to parting with money, if they thought any could have been won, they would have pursued them, so settling in the way they have looks pretty much like an admission of guilt, or the nearest thing to one that we'll ever get from the watchtower, to me

This is an important point to keep in mind. Just look at the Vicki Boer case in Canada and the Berry case in NH. The WTS fought with every ounce of its energy to pursue these cases and in the Boer case, countersued to recoop some of their legal expenses. Say what you will, they like to fight and usually don't back down. For the WTS to settle this many cases at once, there is definately something they don't want coming out. Reasonable companies settle cases all the time, but not ones without merit. And since when has the WTS been called reasonable?? They have good lawyers, but many of them are also "captives of a concept" and I have to believe they would be more inclined to fight than the average corporate attorney. I wonder what sort of effect this stuff has on them personally? Wouldn't it be something to see a couple of them turn on the WTS?

I'd really love to see the media pick this up because while I agree few care about JWs, the pedofile "preacher" story is one that is always of interest.

144001

Reasonable companies settle cases all the time, but not ones without merit. And since when has the WTS been called reasonable?? They have good lawyers, but many of them are also "captives of a concept" and I have to believe they would be more inclined to fight than the average corporate attorney. I wonder what sort of effect this stuff has on them personally? Wouldn't it be something to see a couple of them turn on the WTS?

Au contrare, "reasonable" companies often settle cases that lack merit because the costs of litigating them exceed the amount they would pay for a settlement.

The WTS is very "reasonable," at least when it comes to making prudent business decisions. This fact is proven by the longevity and success of the Watchtower. The lawyers do not make the decisions of which cases to fight and which to settle; that is done by the board of directors of the various corporations utilized by the Watchtower in operating its business. As for "turning on the society," that would most likely be a very foolish move for any attorney who has represented the WTS, as it would almost certainly involve a violation of attorney ethics rules (e.g., duty of confidentiality, etc.) which could lead to serious consequences, including disbarment.

gymbob

Need I remind you again~

What were you referring to when you said the witnesses were "working on it"? Gymbob

metatron

As to the costs of litigation, can we really say that they paid out millions to defray costs?

I'm not so sure, given that they use in-house lawyers who work for "free" as volunteers.

This takes us back to the thought that they wanted this mess kept out of the news, so that they

could go proclaiming to everyone how "righteous" they are and how wicked the Catholics are.

As to being "reasonable", I think we're all interested in just how that works out in their reaction

to these threats. Will they bite the bullet and change the structure of the organization - or risk

losing everything?

Here's another headache: More and more Witnesses know that the Society's teachings are

nonsense and just hang in because of their families. So, if an opportunity comes along to sue

the Society for millions, what will they do? It's amazing what an offer of big money can expose.

metatron

144001

While the Society does indeed have in-house lawyers, I would bet that most, if not, of the abuse cases are handled by firms hired by the Society.

The cases are brought in several states, and it's doubtful that the Society's in-house lawyers are licensed in every state. Furthermore, the workload a case of this type involves would be overwhelming for their legal dept.

Even if they were using their in-house counsel on these cases, there are still considerable costs in litigating. Expert witnesses, court reporters, and other costs are quite substantial. Also, there is the cost of having your management sit in depositions instead of working for you, and the obvious toll depostions take on your personnel. Using in-house counsel may reduce, but it certainly does not eliminate the cost of litigating.

As for the claims that "millions" have been paid out, no one except the parties and their attorneys know how much was actually paid out. It might be a lot less than many here suspect.

dedpoet

I'd really love to see the media pick this up because while I agree few care about JWs, the pedofile "preacher" story is one that is always of interest

I'd like to see the media pick up on this one as well, and I think it could generate
more than the usual interest in jws.

Two things that almost everyone knows about jws are their blood policy and that
they spread their beliefs by knocking on peoples doors. If the public at large were
to see that the watchtower has a child abuse problem that they are determined to
conceal at all costs, it might make them just a little suspicious of the real motives
of some of those who are visiting their homes, and the jws could suffer a backlash
because of it.

ALERT: All Child Abuse Lawsuits have been settled. Millions cashed out???

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