What I Saw & Heard in the Oral Argument Hearing on January 14, 2015

by ABibleStudent 68 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  breakfast of champions

  Incredible job Robert!

  Thank you!
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  wannaexit

  Wonderful report. I am a little nervous for Candice and her mom. I hope that the prior judgement against watchtower stands.
  
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  campaign of hate

  Good Job.

  Here's to hoping this gets good press coverage.
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  Chaserious

  On Watchtower having a special relationship with congregations-

  I don't want to contradict Robert's detailed report since I wasn't there, but I have read the briefs (and am an attorney), and the only special relationship issue raised in the briefs was whether WTS and/or the congregation had a special relationship with Candace Conti (and to a lesser degree Kendrick), and not with each other.  Since parties are not allowed to raise new arguments that they do not address in the briefs, I wonder if this could have been a misunderstanding.  

  In this context "special relationship" has a legal meaning under California law, rather than a special relationship in the everyday meaning of the words.  Generally no duty to warn or prevent harm from occurring to someone exists except in the case of one with a special relationship to the potential victim.  This case did not involve agency or vicarious liability, where the WTS was held responsible for the elders' actions.  Rather, the jury found 27% of the blame was with WTS for its own negligent actions.   
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  Heaven

  Outside of every single publication the Watchtower puts out, wouldn't the elder's handbook "Shepherd The Flock" be something that could be used as evidence to show the 'special relationship' between elders, congregations and 'mother' aka The Watchtower? Does this book list the Watchtower as the publisher?
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  OzGirl

  Thank you for the information.
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  Kanon

  I don't want to contradict Robert's detailed report since I wasn't there, but I have read the briefs (and am an attorney), and the only special relationship issue raised in the briefs was whether WTS and/or the congregation had a special relationship with Candace Conti (and to a lesser degree Kendrick), and not with each other. 

  
  

  Ok that makes more sense to me, although anyone who has had dealings knows the Org certainly considers itself to have a special relationship with any publisher of the good news. But I guess proving it with tangible evidence is a lot harder.
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  Chaserious

  the Org certainly considers itself to have a special relationship with any publisher of the good news.

  Of course they do - especially in the context from protecting from predators within.  They constantly drive home that holy spirit is upon the congregation, people inside are "good association," and those outside are bad association, JWs are the most law-abiding and moral people on earth, etc.  They induce a high level of trust, yet they don't want to be bothered protecting anyone when there is a known predator within.    

  The difficulty is making a judge understand this, especially one who didn't sit through the trial and get a feel for themselves.  There can be a tendency to make a comparison to more mainstream religions that are much less insular when people don't really understand the way the WT org operates.  
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  cha ching

  Chaserious,:They constantly drive home that holy spirit is upon the congregation,....They induce a high level of trust,...  The difficulty is making a judge understand this...  

  Exactly!
  
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  ABibleStudent

  @ jwleaks - I was seating behind the respondents table, so I could not see through the podium what the WTBTS's or local congregation's attorneys brought with them.  I doubt it, because I believe that neither attorney was a JW.  If Mario F. Moreno from the WTBTS's legal department was there, he might have had one.

  @ Chaserious - I wrote in my notes that Jon Williams said, "No special relationship between national religious organization and local congregation".  I agree with you that special relationship from a legal perspective should be between the WTBTS and Candace Conti (or Kendrick, as the pedophile) and not the WTBTS and local congregation.

  I really felt like Jon Williams was there to obfuscate the facts for the judges.  I felt that Rick Simons did not do a good job of picking out Jon Williams obfuscations and revealing them to the judges.  I hope that a recording of the hearing is posted on the internet someday.

  @ everyone else, Thank you for your compliments.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert