by Slidin Fast 45 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
It seems that Irwin Zalkin has obtained undisclosed settlement in the case. The $4000 a day fine then seems to be dead. The downside? WT has again buried it, the toxic records don't come out, the charriot blunders on.
ttps://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2018/mar/02/ticker-watchtower-done-looking-other-way/
If I missed earlier references to this, I apologise.
The Watchtower has done its best to fight turning over documents that would show the scope of sexual abuse by elders. The final blow came last year when an appellate court affirmed a lower court's decision to fine the Watchtower $4000 a day for not turning over documents to the victim's lawyers.
In January, Watchtower settled with Lopez. One month later, on February 18, the church settled with Campos’s final victim Padron.
Attorney Irwin Zalkin confirmed the settlement. The amount, however, will remain confidential.
Well, it almost boils down to money.
As the $4000/day was ordered as a penalty by the court for failure to produce documents, would that penalty be paid to Padron or to the court? If to be paid to the court, I would not expect Padron or lawyer Zalkin to have authority to decide if it will be waved or not.
Even if the penalty and requirement to produce were waved in this instance, I expect the same issues will arise again during another case yet to occur.
So may we assume that the undisclosed settlement must have exceeded the by now $1.5 million fine ($4000/day accruing for over a year now). Would it be safe to say that it was probably around $2 million or more, paid over by the org so that Zalkin would back down on his request for the secret documents and the fine would be dissolved?
It looks like this lawyer Zalkin has made a career of suing the org. over sexual abuse cases. All he's got to do now is repeat the process again and again in future cases and he can keep bilking millions from the org. They are really in a spot here.
What will happen when the average R&F Witness discovers that THIS is where the contributions are going?
Thanks for the update, Slidin Fast.
My mother is an average rank and file member and she has no problem with the money going on law suits because apparently "it says that is what Jehovah wants".
The mind boggles.
So may we assume that the undisclosed settlement must have exceeded the by now $1.5 million fine ($4000/day accruing for over a year now)
I would not assume that. That would be due to the court, not the plaintiff, as mentioned above, they will have nothing to say about what the court decides on this matter. I've been through numerous lawsuits mostly as the accountant for one side or the other. Typically a settlement is reached when one side or the other decides it makes more sense to settle than to keep spending money on lawyers.
Zalkin definitely is not bilking “millions” from the org, and settling can definitely benefit the org. How? Settlement dollar amount are not disclosed, so no one knows how much they are willing to pay to settle (which makes deciding to sue that much more tougher a decision), and the plantiff is barred from talking about it so they cannot sell their story to journalists and movie producers. There is a reason these people fall completely off the map after agreeing to a settlement.
Secondly, it’s better for WT to settle than it is to even see a winning case through. Even if WT were to win, there are no restrictions of the plantiff and they can sell their story to anyone. Settling puts restrictions on them.
So while many celebrate the fact that WT had to write a check, they so easily miss the bigger picture — keeping negative publicity to a minimum in the long term is worth whatever relatively paltry sum of money the plaintiff gets.
the bigger picture — keeping negative publicity to a minimum in the long term is worth whatever relatively paltry sum of money the plaintiff gets.
I would say that the sum settled would have to be substantial rather than paltry because stopping the daily penalty has to be an expensive process, it has given Zalkin and the victim the whip hand. However, almost any penalty is is better to WT than having to disclose their dirty secrets, the subject of the daily fine.
Zalkin has seemed to be our best advocate and the most likely lawyer to force the ultimate exposure of these toxic records that WT has suppressed so far. The lawyer though is only as strong as his client. The temptation of large sums of cash in settlement dangled in front of an ordinary but damaged person is difficult to resist.
So, what next? A class action? A victim strong enough not to cave under such a massive life-altering cash offer? Once again WT gets it's way and preserves it's tarnished reputation just sufficiently to stay afloat.
What will be the killer blow? Will there be death by a thousand cuts? The moral superiority once claimed has long ago dissolved. What is left is a pathetic shadow of what once was. Once again, we wait.
While no one can blame someone for settling when you consider the trauma that person has already experienced and the ongoing trauma of a prolonged court case, which must be just awful for them. They probably just want to put it behind them and try and rebuild their life and if they are not very well off who can blame them for taking money that would make them comfortable in the future. The money won't heal their pain but it's the least WT can do.
However, I just wish someone would be able to see it through to the end. Settling out of court suits the WT. The person goes away quietly and no one is going to know anything about it.
I can't begin to imagine how hard it is for the victim but if I was in that position I would want my day in court. I am a victim of child abuse by the way, so I am not without understanding. Only mine happened almost 60 years ago.
I want WT to be held accountable for victims such as Osbaldo Padron and I want the whole world to know about it.
