How many lawsuits?

by kairos 11 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  kairos

  Could this be a "wake up trigger" question to a nosy elder?

  "How many pedophile lawsuits are the WTS Legal team currently defending?"

  How would/could they answer?
  Why should the answer be secret?

  Follow up for extra credit:
  "What is the total number of pedophile lawsuits internationally since the ORG's beginning?"

  Let's get real. Who would they ask? They know this is a loaded question and would only be asked by doubters, so that means they CAN"T ASK!! Tough corner to paint one's self into, yes?

  Some other "wake up triggers" you have used or think might work would be fantastic.

  I see glaring irony that the companion to Watchtower is, Awake!
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  It would have to be approached because one is concerned for their children.

  Tell the Elder, "I am alarmed by all the info in the media about child abuse in the Congregations. Would YOU warn all of us parents IF there was a suspected molester in OUR Congregation? Just HOW MANY of these cases are there? Is this something that ALL of us parents should be concerned about? IT SOUNDS JUST AS BAD AS THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS!"

  Doc
  
• 

  kairos

  Any elder must know the seriousness of the situation.
  The comments found in the "Flock" book and BOE letters about dodging media/phoning WTS Legal dept and the like when questioned about the pedophile issue is alarming.

  What kind of excuses can be justified to keep this information secret?

  Then you see the May2015 JWbroadcast and realize these lawsuit judgement/settlements aren't going to pay themselves. Sacrifice your firstfruits ( make a deposit into god's heavenly bank account. Then Stephen Lett will be careful spending "Jehovah's Money"® )

  Won't the elders start waking up since they know the truth about the so-called forgiven mortgages?

  I don't know if the answer is available, The number of lawsuits and total donated monies to defend/settle must be staggering.

  That being said, please give some commentary!!
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  Won't the elders start waking up since they know the truth about the so-called forgiven mortgages?

  The typical elder is very busy. He has a job, family obligations, a yard to mow, car to repair, and a job that doesn't pay him enough. Plus he's going to meetings, preparing parts, going in (token) Field Circus, attending special Elder Meetings, perhaps sitting on Judicial Committees, shirking off Shepherding responsibilities, etc

  Why does he keep this pace? Because the Organization sends in the CO every six months and strokes them and tells them they are appointed by God and doing God's work and caring for God's Sheep and it's the only time in his miserable life that he gets any praise. Usually his wife is bitching about him neglecting things at home, or worse, they are middle aged and she is menopausal and bitching about nothing, add to that, his boss is bitching about things that bosses always bitch about.

  The great majority are poorly educated, stuck in dead end jobs that give them little fulfillment in lives. They might be stuck in dead end marriages that give them little fulfillment either.

  BUT......at the Kingdom Hall they are an Elder. At a CirAssm or Convention they maybe are Dept Head or Assistant or be the envy of all the other Elders if they as assigned a Conv Talk. In those situations, they get to clean the grime out of their finger nails, put on a $100 suit (or $20 second-hand suit from Goodwill) and strut around as though they really have attained something in life. They are God's/GB's right-hand man.

  Will they wake up over the "mortgage-gate" rip-off? Not a chance. They likely seldom contribute more than a few buckspersonally because they're spending all their money on gas driving around on Saturday, and they have to keep enough to go out to a buffet after the meeting on Sunday (or their wife will bitch even more) and they must reserve enough to buy a case of beer each week to lower the stress.

  Do they know about all the lawsuits for child abuse? NO. I have not spoken to one hardliner JW who knows anything about it. You can be sure that almost anyone who mentions Conti or the others is reading NON-approved websites and is already doubting things. That Elder above, does not question the WTS or GB or CO (unless he's faking it and already posting here).

  Doc
  
• 

  kairos

  Still looking for some idea of the trouble WT is facing.

  Could it be more than 100 world wide?
  That would seem low to me.

  Can someone please call "Legal" and get a straight answer?
• 

  cappytan

  If anyone has a PACER account, they can do a simple keyword search for "Watchtower" and other organization corporations. PACER searches current dockets in all U.S. courts. It's not world wide, but it is nation wide.

  https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/csologin/login.jsf?appurl=pcl.uscourts.gov/search

  I don't have an account. I'd sign up, but I'm mobile today.
• 

  TheListener

  DOC, I think your post is almost totally right. Some of it is exaggerated a bit, like the menopausal wife, but the essence of your comments about the elders being busy and wearing blinders and feeling special because of their title/authority in the congregation is really accurate.

  And you're right about the Goodwill suit, because dubs don't shop at Salvation Army.
• 

  Brokeback Watchtower

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses'_handling_of_child_sex_abuse

  In 2008, the Watch Tower Society of Britain, in discussions with the UK Charities Commission, undertook to produce a Child Protection Policy and update its procedures to bring them into line with other religious and secular bodies.[31]
  Cover-up allegations[edit]
  Critics claim that in many cases, members of Jehovah's Witnesses have been prevented from reporting child molestation to civil authorities[32] Particularly since around 2000, the Jehovah's Witnesses organization has been accused of covering up cases of child molestation committed by its members. In February 2001, Christianity Today—an evangelical journal that disagrees with the theological perspective of Jehovah's Witnesses—printed an article reporting allegations that Jehovah's Witnesses' policies made reporting sexual abuse difficult for members, and did not conform to typical treatment of such cases. The article also included a response by representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses.[33]
  The BBC reported allegations of a cover-up in July 2002, in an episode of Panorama entitled "Suffer the Little Children".[34] The report revealed that the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watch Tower Society, requires all congregations to submit details of child abuse allegations and maintains an internal database on all cases of child abuse reported to them.[35] It described one case where a child came forward to the elders of her congregation to report sexual abuse by her father, but was sent home, despite their having known for three years that her father was an abuser. When the girl eventually went to the police, her father was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.[34]
  According to Witness spokesman J. R. Brown, Jehovah's Witnesses are not required to report crimes to elders before calling civil authorities. Victims and their families are free to call police, he said, although some don't choose to.[36] The Watch Tower Society maintains a policy with no explicit requirement for elders to report all child abuse cases where such is not required by law. Elders are instructed to "leave matters in Jehovah's hands" if an abuser denies the accusations and there is no second witness available.[33] [32]
  2014 investigations in the United Kingdom[edit]
  In 2013 at the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation of Moston, Manchester, England, church elder and convicted paedophile Jonathan Rose, following his completion of a nine-month jail sentence for paedophile offences, was allowed in a series of a public meetings the people to cross-examine the children he had molested.[37][38] Rose was finally ‘disfellowshipped’ after complaints to the police and the Charity Commission for England and Wales.[37]
  In a separate incident, prior to the trial and conviction for rape and sexual assault in June 2014 of Mark Sewell, an elder of the congregation in Barry, Wales, the church conducted an internal investigation of the allegations, where the women and children had to face their alleged abuser in “judicial committee” hearings organised by their church.[39] A child victim, for whom Sewell was later convicted of rape, alleged that she was questioned closely by church elders when she came forward years after the attack, and was required to describe the incident to them in intimate detail, with Sewell present, but her claims were dismissed by the committee and not taken to the police for further investigation.[40][41] In June Sewell was jailed for fourteen years for the rape and sexual abuse of parishioners, including children.[42][43] All but one of Sewell's fellow elders who investigated claims against him, declined to give evidence in his Crown Court trial. They also provided no assistance to police and prosecutors in their investigation, despite “dis-fellowshipping” Sewell 20 years previously, and destroyed evidence showing claims against Sewell dating back more than 20 years.[44] In June 2014, Sewell was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for eight sex offenses; in December 2014 he appealed unsuccessfully for reduction of his sentence.[45]
  In June and July 2014, the Charity Commission for England and Wales announced that it was formally investigating both the Moston[37] and Barry[46][47] congregations over their child protection policies, to be conducted independently of two statutory inquiries opened the previous month into Jehovah’s Witnesses charities in relation to issues including child protection.[48][49] The Charity Commission noted that it had "serious concerns" about the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, having most recently opened a case into it in December 2013.[50][37] The Watch Tower Society subsequently sought judicial review of the Charity Commission's enquiry; this was denied on 12 December 2014, on the grounds that the Charities Act 2011 required all other legal avenues to be exhausted prior to application for judicial review.[51] Subsequent appeals against the investigation by the New Moston Congregation and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain to the Charity Commission's tribunal were rejected in April 2015.[52]
  In two separate cases in England in December 2014, Jehovah's Witnesses elders in Bournemouth and Plymouth were convicted and sentenced for the sexual abuse of children.[53][54]
  Lawsuits[edit]
  In a press release dated November 21, 2007, Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information stated:[55]
  In the United States, over 80,000 elders currently serve in over 12,300 congregations … During the last 100 years, only eleven elders have been sued for child abuse in thirteen lawsuits filed in the United States; In seven of these lawsuits against the elders, accusations against the Watchtower Society itself were dismissed by the courts.
  In 2004, a Canadian court awarded CAD$5000 to a plaintiff for the negligence of an elder who failed to follow the official policy of the church. However, the court dismissed charges against the Watch Tower Society, and directed the plaintiff to pay the Watch Tower Society's legal fees amounting to CAD$142,000.[56][57]
  In 2007 during a trial motion in the Napa, California court against the Watchtower Society, victims' lawyers convinced the court that 'ecclesiastical privilege' does not supersede the legal obligation of clergy to report child sex abuse to secular authorities. The Watchtower Society paid an undisclosed amount without admitting wrongdoing in an out-of-court settlement with 16 unnamed victims of alleged sexual abuse within the religion. According to court documents obtained by NBC News, one plaintiff was awarded over US$780,000.[58][59] The Press-Enterprise newspaper reported in 2008 that subpoenaed elders declined to testify against accused penitents, citing the confidentiality of penitent-clergy privilege.[60] However elders did not object to testifying once a specific matter of penitent-clergy privilege had been adjudicated.[61]
  In June 2012, a California court ordered the Watchtower Society to pay more than US$20 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a woman who, as a child, was allegedly abused by a member. The court found that congregation elders, following the policies of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, contributed to the abuse. The court stated that the elders as agents of the Watch Tower Society failed to disclose to other parents regarding the confession of the molester who inappropriately touched his step daughter, adding that the degree of reprehensibility was of "medium range". Based on the ratio between the compensatory and punitive damages, the court subsequently reduced the Watch Tower Society's total liability to US$10 million,[62] Lawyers for the Society appealed the ruling, calling the decision "unprecedented" and denying responsibility for abuse.[63][64] In April 2015, the appeal court concluded that the Watchtower Society was negligent in preventing the abuse and upheld the trial court's decision of compensatory damages amounting to $7 million, of which $2.8 million is to be paid by the Watchtower Society and the congregation. However, the court found that the Watchtower Society did not have a duty to warn members of the congregation.[65]
  In October 2014, a case was heard in San Diego, California. When he was seven years old, Jose Lopez was abused by Gonzalo Campos. Witness elders were aware that Campos had previously abused at least one other child, but assigned Campos to instruct Lopez. Campos later confessed to abusing at least eight children between 1982 and 1995, and subsequently fled to Mexico. For failing to protect Lopez from a known offender and for its subsequent refusal to co-operate with the court, the Watch Tower Society was ordered to pay $13.5 million to the plaintiff. The Watch Tower Society appealed the ruling.[66][67] The law firm representing Lopez has filed similar cases in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Vermont,[68] and in California, Oregon and New Mexico.[69]
  In The United Kingdom in June 2015, the High Court of Justice in London awarded damages of £275,000 to an unnamed woman known only as 'Amelia' because the Jehovah's Witnesses failed to protect her from a known paedophile, Peter Stewart. 'Amelia' alleged Stewart abused her from the age of four and threatened that she would be "damned as a sinner" if she told anyone about the abuse. The abuse ended only when Stewart was arrested for offenses against another child.[70][71]
• 

  kairos

  We may finally get the answers we seek.
• 

  Vidiot

  They did ask for additional volunteer help recently (whilst reminding said volunteers not to go to law school).