U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Jehovah’s Witnesses

annihilator

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Jehovah’s Witnesses of 2015 California Trial Court Order

San Diego, CA, October 24, 2019 --(PR.com)-- On October 7, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Petition for Writ of Certiorari filed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (“Watchtower”), requesting that the Supreme Court review a case filed by the Zalkin Law Firm in 2013. In the case of JW v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. et. al., the Riverside Superior Court of California awarded the Plaintiff, “J.W.,” a judgment of $4,016,152.39 plus interest at 10% per year after terminating Watchtower’s defense, because it refused to obey the Court’s order to produce files of known child molesters within the JW organization. In 2018, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in California upheld that decision. The U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of Watchtower’s Petition (essentially a request for an appeal) lets stand the original judgement and damages granted by the lower court.

In the Brief in Opposition to the Petition filed by the Zalkin Law Firm, attorneys Irwin Zalkin and Devin Storey allege a long history of Watchtower violating similar court issued discovery orders to produce the molestation files in other sexual abuse cases, in particular another Zalkin Law Firm case (Lopez, supra, 246 Cal.App.4th 566), where the court found that “[t]here is no question that Watchtower willfully failed to comply with the document production order.” And just two years later in another court ruling (Padron, supra, 16 Cal.App.5th at p. 1249), that court stated the following:

“Watchtower has abused the discovery process. It has zealously advocated its position and lost multiple times. Yet, it cavalierly refuses to acknowledge the consequences of these losses and the validity of the court’s orders . . .”

Full Read here:
https://www.pr.com/press-release/797742

PDF here:
https://pdf.pr.com/press-release/pr-797742.pdf

smiddy3

Thank you for bringing us up to date with this case .Lets hope that Finally Justice Prevails and WTB&TS get what they deserve.

wannaexit

I wonder what the might watchtower will do next!!

Thanks for the articles

Diogenesister

Wannaexit I wonder what the might watchtower will do next!!

Cough up!😂 :))

I wish authorities had some way of freezing their assets until they hand over the list. I can't believe it's even legal and they don't arrest the GB for hiding criminals. I guess the issue is these are only hearsay reports. They will assume the people on this list have not been found guilty of these crimes (yet).

JW GoneBad

Diogenesister

I wish authorities had some way of freezing their assets...

I'd be okay with authorities just freezing their asses!🤣🤣🤣

blondie

Diogenesister,

I thought the WTS was supposedly paying $1,000 daily as a fine for not turning over those records.

careful

Well, the bill for this lawsuit alone now stands at $4.4+ million and it increases daily. The one in Montana has a higher judgement. They'd best start paying up, for it will only get worse as they put off payment and as these new laws extending the statute of limitations for CSA filers kick in.

Thx, annihilator, for the info.

smiddy3

Is this lawsuit just a paper tiger that has no teeth in it ? Just how long can they put off and delay a judgement that has been made against them ?

Or is the law just really an ass ,and don`t expect any justice here anytime soon,if at all.

Corney

First, the case documents are available on the Court's site ((1) Petition + lower courts' decisions, annexed; (2) Brief of respondent J. W., a Minor in opposition; (3) Reply of petitioner Watchtower NY).

blondie, careful,

The case you're referring to (the Padron case) was settled twenty months ago.

In this case a judge punished the Watchtower for refusal to produce certain documents (files received by it in response to the 1997 BOE letter) by entering default judgment against them and awarding a plaintiff $4 million without trial. An appellate court affirmed that ruling thus creating a pretty dangerous (for the org) precedent.

smiddy3,

Mere filing of a petition doesn't stay or suspend execution of appealed decisions. This petition didn't "delay a judgment". And since the Watchtower posted a $6,024,228.58 appeal bond on August 15, 2016, the compensation has likely been paid months ago, probably shortly after the appellate court issued its judgment on December 10, 2018

I don't know the exact reason why this petition was filed. Maybe they really tried to overturn the precedent established by a Californian court, or maybe it's just their modus operandi to appeal negative rulings as far as possible - to the best of my knowledge, this case is the first and the only CSA case lost by WT which hasn't eventually been settled.

BluesBrother

They used to enjoy boasting about their ' God given' Supreme Court victories that gave them freedom to preach......

I don't suppose they will want to talk about this one .....

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Jehovah’s Witnesses

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