Although the misfeasance argument raised in Rick Simon's Respondent's Brief was very strong in my opinion, I did wonder why he was raising it (for the first time as far as I can see) on appeal. I had read the trial transcripts and could only detect indirect testimony that would support misfeasance (i.e., elders assigning Candace to work with Kendrick in FS).
It is possible that no elder ever assigned the two to work together. So often the person conducting field service meetings (elder or not) will ask if the publishers have made arrangements to work with other publishers. It was always my experience that chldren were not assigned partners, but it was left up to the adult publishers to determine which pairing of adults the children would work with. Most of the assigning that was done by the conductor involved those who didn't have pre-arrangements.
On the other hand, perhaps one of the elders other than the three that testified at trial had assigned Candace to work with Kendrick. We don't know because it was not brought up at trial.
Little wonder then, that Watchtower attacks the misfeasance argument in its Reply Brief.
The larger issue, in my opinion, is that Watchtower's insistence that the responsibility of care rests primarily with the parents actually works against them. Such a position makes it all the more necessary for the parents to know about any child molester (convicted or not, repentant or not, one time or not) in their midst. Otherwise parents' care of their children is dangerously limited. A policy that withholds this vital information from them is willful and malicious. To say that this policy is scripturally-based is to grossly misrepresent Scripture.
Here's hoping the appellate panel will discern what this case is really about (as the jury did) and, even without considering misfeasance, rule in Candace's favor.