Church faces $100 Million in Suits

Amazing

The resignation of Cardinal Law of the Boston Archdiocese has raised the issue of how the 500+ victims will be compensated financially. The figure of $100 Million was stated in the news, and this means either a large liability insurance payout, or bankruptcy for the Archdiocese. This is just """one""" Diocese In the United States. If repeated in the entire nation the Catholic Church could face significant financial loss. Looking at a smaller religion, or better stated one that is sixty times smaller than the Catholic Church is in the USA, the Watchtower Society is a sitting duck ... if the ever powerful Catholic Church can fall this hard, then perhaps a similar fate awaits the GB Boys in Brooklyn ... maybe, just maybe there "may be" some justice afterall ...

Edited by - Amazing on 17 December 2002 1:16:20

Realist

would it be possible to file similar lawsuits against the WT or is there a fundamental difference in the way the churches acted respectively in their policies?

NameWithheld

As one who is fairly close to one town's pending action against the Catholic church - I find it amazing how much damming evidence they left behind. I do not see the same being true w/ the JWs who have made a huge effort for years to ensure NOTHING is on paper. I could be entirely wrong though. I am not close to the pending action against the JWs (yet).

Edited by - NameWithheld on 17 December 2002 9:3:25

hawkaw

I thought you left?

Amazing

Hi Hawkaw: I still plan my last three posts as I stated in the foreword to my Finale ... in the meantime, this newsworthy item seemed too interesting to pass up. And, as I stated, I am not leaving, just taking a long needed diversion from the Internet so I can focus on some other things ... my recent posting volume is all but reduced to a handful in the last month.

Hi Namewithheld and Realist: The fundamental difference is that the Catholic leaders moved pedophile Priests around to different Parishes in order to conceal their crime. There are some documented on paper as being moved because of this crime, but mostly those where lawsuits were settled out of court. The Watchtower does not move pedophile Elders around, but instead its policies work to conceal and shield any JW member who is a pedophile ... to the tune that a large number of JW pedophiles are known to the Watchtower ... most all of whom should have been reported to the authorities (the rest were already caught by the police or turned into the authorities by other non-JW parties.)

Based on rumor, the Watchtower -- like the Catholic Church -- has already settled lawsuits out of court, and based on actual news accounts there are many pending court cases currently in the system ... and more to come ... the issue is not whether the Watchtower will lose some, maybe many lawsuits, but whether the monetary judgment will result in a significant award that hurts the Watchtower to the point of bankrupting them. In this respect, the recent action against the Catholic Church is important to case law.

heathen

I don't think they should be able to file bankrupsy IMO.

hawkaw

Filing for bankruptcy is great because then they have to disclose ALL of their hidden assests to the judge and then the judge decides who gets what.

Boy that will be on the front page of the Globe and Times for weeks. Cardinal owns ___ and Cardinal owns ___ and on and on it will go. God it will be embarassing as hell and those bastards know it too.

I really think, that even though the leaders of that Roman Catholic Church are coming around, it will take a victim to actually own a huge cathedral in downtown Beantown before someone "gets it".

Quite frankly you are now watching the JW victims at about the late 1980 stage with the Catholic victims. You are watching history unfold before your very eyes. With the end result that these corporations will envoke strong "checks and balances" into their system to protect its members or it will be time to "stick a fork in it" cause their done.

hawk

Edited by - hawkaw on 17 December 2002 11:22:39

Realist

if it is ok for a church not to report a pedophile to the authorities then how can they be sued for that?

PS: in case the wt would have to file for bancrupcy...do you think that would strengthen or weaken the faith of the Jws?

Edited by - realist on 17 December 2002 12:17:12

heathen

I think that filing bankruptsy would only protect their assets .They are not a corporation and have not paid taxes on anything.They can also keep their name rather than if someone sued them out of existence . Not real sure what the laws pertaining to this are but have heard some talk show remarks.

Amazing

Hi Heathen: The Watchtower Society has over 100 corporations, some own siaeable assets and others do not. Bankruptcy does not protect them that much ... depending on the chapter filed it can mean anything from reorganization to total liquidation.

Assuming a church discese owns $80 million in total assets that are not protected (such as 401 K plans, etc.) and it loses a $100 Million judgment ... then the creditors, inluding victims who prevailed in a judgment would get 80 cents on the dollar, unless of course the Court ruled that some creditors had a lower priority and merited less payout ... The Watchtower Society is a sitting duck either way ...

Realist: In 38 states clergy must report pedophiles to the authorities and clergy-laity confidentiality is not protected in cases of pedoiphilia in these states. The issue with the Catholic Church is shielding not just some confession of a lay member, but shield Priests. Likewise the Society has in some ways shielded JW Elders and in this sense they too may end up facing the same trials as the Catholic Church.

I don't believe that bankruptcy will in and of itself shake the faith of most JWs ... it will be the "reason" for the bankruptcy, e.g. losing many pedophile lawsuits across the USA and many countries that will clearly awaken many JWs to the hard reality that their religion is not what they think it is.

Hi Hawkaw: I agree that the Watchtower Society is years behind the Catholic Church in its evolution of this issue ... but, I get the feeling that the JWs / ex-JWs are accelerating faster and will soon catch up.

Church faces $100 Million in Suits

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