Maybe this lawfirm will turn out to be "Gog of Magog".
2.16.2017 NJ Star-Ledger Ad: "Were you sexually abused by the Jehovahs Witnesses?"
by breakfast of champions 144 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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Dunedain
Hey all, I mentioned this in my thread about the TV commercial that was seen from the Law firm, that's putting these adds out. They have now placed an add in a NYC newspaper, called the Staten Island Advance. It was almost exactly like this add, but just in NY, and it was seen yesterday.
I will be downloading copies here, or maybe start its own thread.
To all that do not know, Staten Island is one of the 5 boroughs of New York City. There are about 8 to 10 different congregations, at least, on the Island. I can also, personally verify, that at about 25 years ago, there WAS sexual abuse issues in a congregation, on the Island. It will be interesting to see if this comes out.
I was born and raised on Staten Island, and I can verify that the Staten Island Advance, is a HUGE newspaper. Almost a million people read it weekly. So, this now makes 2 different states running these articles, and TV commercials, and all right in the WTS's BACKYARD.
Good luck BORG, you are gonna need it.
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Richard Oliver
These are big firms but it is not a guarantee. There is a lot of cases where courts have ruled that Watchtower, along with other churches, don't have a duty to warn or protect. They have also ruled that they don't have a fiduciary duty to it's members. Obviously these firms believe that they can overcome these issues but it won't be a cake walk for them to overcome the precedents already established by the courts in a number of different states.
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sir82
I'm fairly sure that if Elders were threatened with disfellowshiping for reveling child abuse the police (as I understand what some are saying here), that letter would have surfaced in the Australian Royal Commission and been used to rip apart the Watchtower defense.
The nastiest threats are disseminated verbally, either communicated over the phone (for individual cases) or in elders school where no recording is allowed and no printed documents are distributed
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freemindfade
Some kind of president must be set for the ambulance chasers to get involved.
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Richard Oliver
Precedent has been applied to if the abuse takes place during an official activty of Watchtower, such as in the Conti case when the abuse occurred in service. There are some others but in very narrow circumstances.
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My Name is of No Consequence
How long before the org has to sell off properties in Warwick to offset more claims?
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Spoletta
The difference will be that this has a chance of expanding into a much larger pool of victims, coupled with nationwide exposure. The timing of the upcoming ARC report will add fuel to the fire, by showing that even though the Organization hasn't given explicit instruction to hide cases of child abuse, they have relied on Elders to interpret their double meaning instructions in a manner that results in cover-ups of wrongdoing. Geoffrey Jackson's evasive answers on the witness stand will only serve to point out that the GB realizes being completely completely truthful about Watchtower policy will be very damaging to the Organization. Even if no guilt can be established in court, the court of public opinion will not rule in their favor.
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Joe Grundy
I am not qualified (in its widest sense) to comment on US law, but I was a UK police officer for 30 years and dealt with abuse and safeguarding issues,
Richard Oliver's comments are, I respectfully submit, a deflection. To take his points in reverse order:
'Fiduciary duty' generally means a duty of care to others in relation to money, property and related matters. Thus, the directors of a company have a fiduciary duty to its shareholders to protect their interests, an investment broker has a duty to those whose assets he manages, etc. Not really relevant here.
'Warn and protect': yes, this is relevant of course to safeguarding but is not the main issue here.
I suspect that the main points of cases against against WT will be the way in which reports (and well-founded suspicions) of abuse have been (and, it seems, continue to be) dealt with. No need to go over it again, but this includes:
Interview of victim by unqualified exclusively male JWs
Two witness rule
Failure to report to authorities (thus opening up avenues of support)
JC procedures
failure to provide any measure of protection to victims or to consider further potential victims
and so on.
These failures have now been exposed and are, without doubt, accepted to fall far short of acceptable practice and are, I believe, actionable at law.
Sworn testimony given to ARC by JW people in authority provided evidence of this. I don't think it was accidental that the way the SC to ARC progressed his questioning showed that the policies and procedures emanated not from local hierarchy but from the GB - and that they applied world-wide from a highly-centralised and high-control organisation.
Evidence to ARC probably won't be admissible in US courts, of course, but it provides an excellent starting point for lawyers taking depositions in the US from US JW hierarchy.
WT HQ/GB has, it seems to me, for a long time exercised minute control over JWs world-wide, micro-managing to a fine degree. Maybe now this will come back to bite them on the ass. Jackson and others (eg Toole) made fools of themselves before ARC. If that sort of performance is repeated before juries with the power to award damages I foresee big problems for WT. And I can foresee other 'tort' legal firms joining up.
Just my opinion, of course. Could be the basis for another John Grisham book.