WATCHTOWER WRONGFULL DEATH LAWSUIT - UPDATE

by Lawrence Hughes 17 Replies latest jw friends

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    I've read you facts, used my knowledge of American law, which is not that different from Canadian law. Not only lawyers have declined your case. Appellate courts have stricken so many parts of it is barely viable at all. I've received loans on a future settlement in my personal litigation. You have standing. It is bizarre to represent an estate of an adult daughter who chose death rather than a blood transfusion.

    Legally, this case has very bad facts and the likely bad outcome could chill blood transfusions against many more Witness claimants. Law is clumsy, as you can well see by now. There is probably not a parent alive who does not feel for your loss. Minus the clumsy lawsuit, your story is eloquent. Justice and law only mesh sometimes. Several newspapers report facts contrary to your own.

    Imagine a foundation in your daughter' name to educate Witnesses in alternatives. Some sort of phone bank to support parents in similar situations. Buying a law suit is not a correct term. The US has a requirement of an actual case or controversy and standing was honed during the New Deal to limit law suits against large corporations. Since Canda is also c/l jurisidction, I assume Canada does.

    The situation stinks. YOu could be such a powerful force if you moved on. No damages will ever begin to replace your daughter. Were it not for legal education, I would prob. think you r case had merit. Legal merit and merit are two different things.

  • Lawrence Hughes
    Lawrence Hughes

    Band on the Run,

    I believe that it is normal in a civil suit for the legal issues to be narrowed and more clearly defined. That is why parts of the lawsuit was strickened. The issues of "Conflict of Interest" and "Misrepresentation and Deceit " were dropped. The issue of " Consent " was kept in. The Statement of Claim included some defendants who were later dropped because the judge did not think there was sufficient evidence to warrant taking them to trial.

    The newspapers usually get some of the facts wrong. That is why the old saying " you can't beleive everything you read in a newspaper". Sometimes they get the story completely wrong.

    Not all the facts have been written in my postings. There is over nine years of litigation and collection of information ( about 50 file boxes full) . Also, alot of the defendants have not yet been examined in discoveries.

    What do you mean by a Phone Bank?

    Lawrence

  • ziddina
    ziddina

    Let me get this straight...

    Someone from the Watchtower tried to play 'doctor' - again - without a college degree? [Without a college degree in MEDICINE, at any rate...] By convincing your dauther to take ARSENIC???

    "...Shane Brady, a Watchtower lawyer, sent a letter to Dr. Robert Turner asking him to treat Bethany with arsenic. The Watchtower lawyers convinced Bethany and her mother that arsenic would cure her skin cancer, took her into hiding and arranged for her to be fed the arsenic. According to the medical records, the arsenic gradually killed off the blood cells over a period of two months. Bethany went blind and the next day died of congestive heart failure. ..."

    And the law can't touch them?? Insufficient evidence that a Watchtower goon influenced her to throw her life away??

    I am speechless...

  • Lawrence Hughes
    Lawrence Hughes

    Hi Hoffnung,

    I am not sure how much money will be needed. It depends on which scenerio is choosen.

    If I were to continue on my own, I would probably need at least $10,000 in the next month and $20,000 in three months from now. I have just been offered a good job and so I could probably handle most or all of the day to day expenses up until a month before the trial. Then, I would need money to pay for expert witnesses to come to Calgary to testify. The trial would be held in two or three years from now.

    If someone wanted to buy the lawsuit, then it would depend of how much they pay a lawyer and whether they can find a lawyer to work pro bono or on contingency. There is always the slight chance that a lawyer will take the case on pro bono or contingency. This lawsuit is a high profile case and any lawyer who takes it on will become famous. A lawyer may wish to take it on to become famous. I estimate out of pocket expenses to be about $20,000 to go to trial. Then there is the cost of the lawyer which is a unknown. The court may require security of costs. I would guess that the security for costs would be about $30,000 to$50,000 .

    Lawrence

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    Any award would have to be paid to Bethany's estate. Lawrence Hughes could never have personally benefitted (financially) from a win either.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    Did they not dismiss all claims against the WT? You are left with a very skeletal case. If your case is so viable, you should be able to get a loan against the million dollar damages. These legal loan companies use sophisticated measures to measure the probable value of a law suit. YOu do not sell the law suit to anyone. If you did, you are no longer a plaintiff. This would be big time n ot allowed in the U.S. A company might give you a loan,heavily, heavily, discounted against the value of the award.

    No one is stepping forward. Peoplel should read the actual pleadings and court decisions before investing. Again, I don't think you are lying purposefully. Rather, grief prevents you from seeing the reality. Your action was not affirmed by the appellate court. A teensy, tiny portion was allowed to go to trial. There is some triumph in that. Being allowed to proceed and winning are polar opposites.

    The WT does many screwy things but not all screwy things break the law. Maybe someone needs to go through the pleadings and court rulings from a neutral perspective. I feel I am limited by my American background. The EU is more familiar to me. Certainly, a Canadian attorney must post here.

  • Lawrence Hughes
    Lawrence Hughes

    The mother and the father would benefit from the estate. I am not sure if Bethany's two sisters would or not. The mother has publically declared that she does not want any money. I would benefit from the estate. In the initial Statement of Claim I was also suing the Watchtower on my own behalf and that has since been dropped.

    Lawrence

  • Nathan Natas
    Nathan Natas

    What is your schedule for repaying all those who helped you out over the past nine years?

    Or do you intend to return to your architectural career and just figure that your supporters made a "bad bet?"

    If the later, please explain to me how you are morally superior to the WTB&TS.

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