The San Diego Court has ordered the Watchtower Society to pay a $4000 per day fine, until it supplies the documents that contain the records of child sexual abuse, within the organisation. The documents have been produced before but were so heavily redacted that they were of no use to the court. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/jun/24/ticker-judge-sanctions-jehovahs-witnesses/#
Using that money from the brothers in a worthwhile fashion, wonder how much the legal bill is? They have no defense, they are not the friend of the abused. They only say they are. I was an Elder and I read all the correspondence in the Congregation file from the late seventies up till the late ninetees and most of the advice was don't violate the privacy of the accussed and protect the reputation of the congregation and Oh, Yeah if you can protect the little tike, do that too! It is half the reason I disassociated, it left such a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think Jehovah likes their stand either.
Hi Frank Yes, there is a price to pay for putting the image of the organisation ahead of the welfare of children. This is just my personal opinion, but I wouldn't be surprised if the court decides to increase the fine. I say that because courts don't like being ignored.
The Watchtower Society is unwilling to hand over its database of paedophiles to the court. The court is aiming to get the database of paedophiles. If the court has this information available, then it can pursue lawsuits on behalf of the survivors of child abuse. Paedophiles can be located and charges made against them. The fine is being used as financial "leverage" to get the Watchtower Society to comply. The only language that corporations understand is money. They have to be hit in the "hip pocket."
Would they, or have they done the same thing to other religious organizations, like the Catholics? Or the evangelical churches? Or are they just requiring this of the Watchtower?
I think that's a good question, not sure how that will unfold. The lawyer for this case is Irwin Zalkin - he does a lot of work in the area of child abuse cases. He is also the lawyer in another case. Here's the thread where I posted about it. The Watchtower refused to supply the documents and the GB member Gerrit Loesch refused to appear before the court, when summoned to do so. http://www.e-jw.org/index.php?threads/13-5-million-lawsuit-san-diego.1178/ This is just a personal observation on my part, but I think that the lawyer Irwin Zalkin, has figured out what the Watchtower Society's "Achilles Heel" is - it's weakness. They've got a database of paedophiles. I have a hunch that Irwin Zalkin will keep chipping away at that. In the past, the Watchtower Society has paid out settlements but they have a gag order on them. I think that Irwin Zalkin has worked out a new tactic.
He sees them as a big pay day. Don't think he'll get anything more than money for his client. Hopefully they can afford decent mental health care from here till the kingdom. The money won't be worth much for too long as this system is playing it's swan song.