New lawsuit against the Watchtower in Ontario, Canada

yalbmert99

The new class action lawsuit against the Watchtower for having covered up child sexual abuse will begin in court on May 13-14-15, 2024 in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is not the same as in the province of Quebec because the laws aren't the same. I don’t have more details. Stay tuned.

ThomasMore

Thanks Yalbmert99.

The resources of Legal must be near exhaustion. I have lost track of all the cases they are defending - some handled internally and some managed remotely by JW attorneys or non-JW paid attorneys which are very expensive and have potential risks of being aired in public (even with the exhaustive safeguards, people still like to share what they know).

All these cases require careful attention to manage and timely replies to avoid default judgements. I have not heard of any recent victories by WTC.

Then there are the negotiated out of court settlements which have grown in number. These require legal attention also for the non-disclosures and direct negotiations on $ amounts. The NDAs are really tight. I have not heard ANY actual settlement amounts - just hints and comments that WTC is bleeding profusely. One litigant was advised to settle before WTC collapses financially.

I have seen some comments (mostly on this forum) that WTC has limitless funds. NO ONE HAS UNLIMITED FUNDS. The last time I saw a disclusure of WTC net worth (liquid assets), it was barely enough to cover annual operating expenses. I am skeptical that those funds were all donated given the declining attendance. When publishers stop attending, they usually stop donating - even though WTC encourages them to donate online. By the time I faded, I stopped all donations - online and in-person. How about you?

The sale of assets may be the only thing keeping their nose above the water line. I suspect that many of the properties are leveraged for the cash they need to cover settlements, pay legal fees to hired attorneys, and feed the Bethelites.

Don't believe it? Whatever happened to Ramapo, the large Patterson renovation, the Geico flip/consolidation combo and other projects? Are these on hold or scuttled entirely? A silt fence is not evidence of intention to complete a project. Show me concrete being poured.

Magnum

ThomasMore, I agree with your entire post.

One litigant was advised to settle before WTC collapses financially.

I've thought about this before concerning my own case against the business.

TonusOH

I don't know where they stand financially, and it can be very difficult to guess at. Settlements can often be much smaller than we expect, especially with cases where there may not be much evidence. And since those always include an NDA, we are left without important information. Ramapo is expected to be finished in 2026, if I remember correctly. I don't know how much we can learn from that, although I suppose they would need to file some kind of paperwork if they modify their plans for it.

I don't think they have unlimited funds, and I would not be surprised if they have been reducing expenses to deal with decreased income. But they may be able to fake it for many years to come. The importance of the lawsuits is to make it harder and harder for them to wave off accusations that they do not protect children. They condemned 'Christendom' for their many CSA scandals, but now they are in the crosshairs and there are so many investigations turning up so many cases that their own moment of reckoning may be near. And even unlimited money will not wash off that stain.

DesirousOfChange

I am sure they are hoping they can survive until the CSA cases peter out. But as more and more US States drop the Statute of Limitations on filing lawsuits it brings in a whole new batch of problems for them.

I think they really should be more concerned about their loss of charity status around the world. I don't ever see it at risk in the US, but Europe is just beginning to explode.

joe134cd

Lose of charity status would finish them quicker than any CSA case would. I’ve always said Wt is more likely to run out of money before it runs out of members. The lds has the opposite problem. It will run out of members before it runs out of money. Lol

Bill Covert

In 2013 I was the apostate who's using the tactic to write letters to the publishers homes was cited in the main summer assembly talk "Human Apostates". When that talk hit the Netherlands a attorney put a piece in the paper, stating that talk constituted "hate speech" and was in violation of law. The point was made that this legal statute was enacted because of Adolf Hitler.

So as you are seeing Europe becoming more sensitive to "shunning", and other human rights issues understand Hitler left his mark on Europe.

I am not the most popular writer as to anyone listening to what I have to say but there is one group of people who do listen. On this site and in my letters to the homes and Kingdom Hall's in Redding. i would cite a YouTube clip on a Lorenz Reibling, a JW and the head of the "Taurus" investment group. There was a YouTube clip of him in Argentina peddling multiple multi million funding for investments in worth while projects. This coincided with the time period of the disappearance of $2B of receipts from the liquidation of the Brooklyn real estate portfolio. Those YouTube clips of Reibling I could not find, they are no longer there.

The point being made as where money comes from to settle molestation's, remember $2B from liquidation of Brooklyn assets was squirreled away some where.

Vidiot

It’s funny…

…if all the things I imagined during my younger years that I thought might give the Org real trouble…

…financial issues never occurred to me.

JW GoneBad

As joe134cd noted:

The lds has the opposite problem. It will run out of members before it runs out of money.

In the USA alone, the LDS have nearly 6.6 million members. Compare that to JWs who have a whopping (LOL ) 1.2 million USA members & dropping/falling! The only new converts are very young born-ins who can hardly be depended on for donations!

ThomasMore

Bill - I PM'd you.

Joe1234cd - fully agree with your synopsis. I have said for years that loss of charity status, even in Europe would finish them off.

DOC - CSA cases have not been on the decrease since the Org is still full of abusers. JWism is a magnet for active perverts. The prison ministry was actively courting them to come in - that says it all. Now that states have extended statutes of limitations, the flood gates are wide open.

TonusOH - it is difficult to tell how much they spent vs received, but the constant pleas and reminders for donations are a sure indicator that times are lean. Settlements are always less than what might be awarded in court. WTC knows this and dangles "quick closure" in front of litigants. It is hard to resist, but I suspect that during negotiations, WTC suggests that they will otherwise 'fight to the death in court'. One case I am familiar with was particularly egregious. The plaintif was adamant that no settlement would be accepted - until they offered and the attorney said take before they file Chap 11. In disclosure, WTC revealed what I consider to be dangerously low funds given the many attacks they are facing. It certainly must be worse now. I am of the opinion that they have leveraged a large part of the real estate to banks for cash. That would explain why they had LDCs appraise all properties several years ago. They can do this now since they own them all. If they decide to stop making payments, the property is forfeited. This might be why so few KH's that are sold never had signs advertising for sale. Banks got them at a discount and flipped them for a little profit. Only the publishers lost.

New lawsuit against the Watchtower in Ontario, Canada

Share this