The Lawsuit Landslide: Irwin Zalkin representing ELEVEN child abuse victims against Watchtower

by cedars 62 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

  • cedars
    cedars

    Hi everyone

    Many of you will be interested to know that Irwin Zalkin now has 11 lawsuits against Watchtower at various stages.

    These can be summarized as follows...

    • J.L. – California – a seventh victim of Gonzalo Campos who was abused when he was eight years old at the Linda Vista Spanish congregation in San Diego, California in 1986. His mother complained to the elders and Campos was privately reproved. Shocked by the lack of action, the victim’s mother immediately left the congregation with her son. By this stage Campos was a known predator with complaints having been made to the elders at Linda Vista Spanish, Playa Pacifica Spanish and the Watchtower dating back to 1982.
    • Elizabeth McFarland – Ohio – a former ministerial servant named Scott Silvasy sexually molested Elizabeth when she was a child through her early teens. She reported it to her parents when she was a teenager. Her parents reported it to the elders at the West Congregation in Lorain, Ohio. The case was not reported to police. Silvasy committed suicide on Elizabeth’s birthday. There had been a prior complaint against Silvasy. (Click here for complaint form)
    • Monica Lynn Jaramillo – New Mexico – Monica Lynn was abused by Mike Brunner who had also abused her mother when her mother was a minor. In 1986 Monica’s mother told the elders of the Los Lunas Congregation in New Mexico of her abuse by Bruner, who was an elder at Los Lunas in 1986. They told her that she needed to spend more time in service, and needed to forgive him because Jehovah would not have made him an elder if he had not repented. To show her forgiveness she needed to leave her children under his supervision. He raped Monica Lynn on one of those occasions.
    • J.W. – California – J.W. was sexually abused by a serial pedophile who was an elder in her Southern California congregation. He abused several girls at a sleep-over party including J.W., and was subsequently criminally convicted for the abuse. (Click here for complaint form)
    • T.L. – California – T.L. was abused by Brent Dalluge, a ministerial servant in the Fountain Valley Congregation in Southern California. In 1992 Dalluge was disfellowshipped after admitting to sexually abusing almost a dozen children. Dalluge confessed to drugging some of those boys to accomplish the abuse.
    • T.O. – Washington – T.O. was in the Hazel Dell Congregation in Vancouver, Washington where she was abused by several older JW boys, one of whom was the son of a prominent Elder. The elders were informed of the abuse but refused to believe the report, and T.O. continued to be molested by the same boys. One of the boys was subsequently arrested for molesting several young girls. (Click here for media report on the case)
    • O.P. – California – an eighth victim of Gonzalo Campos formerly of the Playa Pacifica Congregation in San Diego. O.P. was abused by Campos while he was still an elder. This case has not yet been served.
    • Zalkin also represents victims of abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness religion in Connecticut and Utah, as well as two additional cases in California that have not yet been filed.

    This map shows the distribution of cases being handled by the Zalkin Law Firm across the US (as of Sep '13)...

    Map showing the 11 Jehovah's Witness child sex abuse cases being handled by Zalkin Law Firm as of September 2013

    For more information, please check out my article on this link...

    http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/the-lawsuit-landslide-irwin-zalkin-representing-eleven-child-abuse-victims-against-watchtower

    Cedars

  • cantleave
    cantleave

    It would be wonderful to think this will topple the tower, but alas I doubt it.

  • sir82
    sir82

    11 lawsuits won't, but a few hundred, or even a handful of class action lawsuits, would do some serious damage.

    Much hinges on the Conti appeals to come.

  • The Searcher
    The Searcher

    I suspect that ALL will hinge on the outcome of the Conti case.

  • Doubting Bro
    Doubting Bro

    Yeah, the flood gates will open up if Conti is upheld. Even if it's overturned on appeal, I believe some of these cases could be sucessful especially if the perp was an elder/ms at the time of the abuse.

  • AnnOMaly
    AnnOMaly

    Wow. The WTS really has its hands full atm - especially in CA.

    You know all this soliciting of funds in CA that's supposed to be for 'new KHs' in the region? Well, I think they need to increase their 'KH building' budget substantially.

  • designs
    designs

    Its good these people are being represented by council, I hope their interests are being cared for.

  • cofty
    cofty

    The long-awaited "persecution" has begun. It turns out it's not the glorious suffering we all imagined. It's a flood of lawsuits for protecting pedophiles.

    Who would have thought it?

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • flipper
    flipper

    Let's hope this is just the beginning of the floodgates that will expose and open up awareness of Jehovah's Witness child abuse and more child molesters will be prosecuted and the world and mainstream media will run with these various cases and expose faulty WT Society child abuse policies. Children need to be protected and it needs to be made VERY public

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