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JW Canada:Jehovah's Witnesses can appeal judgment allowing sex-assault class action


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Jehovah's Witnesses may appeal a judgment that gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit against them for alleged sexual assault on minors.

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Quebec may appeal a judgment that gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit against them for alleged sexual assault on minors.

The Quebec Court of Appeal on Monday granted them the right to appeal a judgment authorizing the class action, handed down in February by Justice Chantal Corriveau of the Superior Court.

At the heart of the class action is whether the church failed to protect its members when they tried to denounce sexual abuse.

The class action argues the church’s internal reporting policies conceal abuse and have silenced hundreds of sexual assault complaints through the years. It seeks at least $250,000 in damages for each alleged victim.

The lawsuit targets the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, the parent company of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the country, and another society based in Pennsylvania that’s responsible for the church’s communications and publications.

At the heart of the class action is whether the church failed to protect its members when they tried to denounce sexual abuse.

According to the lawsuit, Lisa Blais, now in her 40s, first spoke out about the alleged abuse when she was 16 years old. She sought help from her parents, another Jehovah’s Witness and an elder — members who act as spiritual leaders in different congregations — but says she was discouraged from reporting the abuse in order to protect the community.

Blais left her family at 17 and was officially disfellowshipped at 24.

In seeking leave to appeal Corriveau’s judgment, Watch Tower Canada described the decision as “unprecedented in Quebec.” The alleged assaults did not take place in an institutional setting, the organization noted, and it was not leaders or employees of the religious organization who allegedly committed the acts.

The Quebec Court of Appeal found that the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ arguments deserve to be further assessed. Jehovah’s Witnesses will now have to plead their case before the Court of Appeal, at a date yet to be determined.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/jehovahs-witnesses-can-appeal-judgment-allowing-sex-assault-class-action

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IN this case, a "class action suit" appears to me to be ONLY a money grab by OPPOSITION lawyers, who will get somewhere around 40% of the total value of this suit, if they win. I have a very low

Given that any hesitancy to report CSA for fear of causing reproach on the congregation has been removed, it is hard to see that anything damaging is “still in place.” https://www.tomsheepandgoat

Most of the Brothers that work at Bethel are Jehovah's Witnesses that are full time volunteers, who basically work for free.  Some are part time and work on an as-needed basis, and for certain lawsuit

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IN this case, a "class action suit" appears to me to be ONLY a money grab by OPPOSITION lawyers, who will get somewhere around 40% of the total value of this suit, if they win.

I have a very low opinion of Watchtower Lawyers, having read the transcripts of many other cases where they used every dirty lawyer trick in the book to obscure and pervert Justice, or at least the "Due Process" that might have led to Justice, but in this case they are, I believe on solid ground, as the opposition lawyers are now in a "total war" scenario.  Neither side cares about Justice ... the court systems are being used as a chessboard.

This is not to say that Watchtower's Layers are doing the "right thing", for the right reasons .... ON BOTH SIDES IT'S ONLY ALL ABOUT MONEY.

That is a Lawyers job ... to protect the fiduciary interests of their clients, WITHOUT regard for Justice, on both sides.

In this case the REAL clients on the opposition side are the lawyers themselves, serving their own interests, looking to put a giant vacuum cleaner hose into the Watchtower Scrooge McDuck money vault.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Indiana said:

The alleged assaults did not take place in an institutional setting, the organization noted, and it was not leaders or employees of the religious organization who allegedly committed the acts.

I know of no other instance of any organization being successfully sued when the above conditions are so.

Usually it is the rule that one of the leaders/clergypersons perpetrated the abuse and/or that it happened in one of their facilities.

I wrote about this at the time, saying: “Do I understand this correctly? One child abuses another within a family, and it is the fault of the congregation elders?”

https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2019/03/a-class-action-suit-in-quebec.html

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@James Thomas Rook Jr.  "I have a very low opinion of Watchtower Lawyers,"

Can you tell me please who exactly the Watchtower Lawyers are ?  I don't mean names of course, i mean are they themselves Jehovah's Witnesses ?  Are they 'brothers' ?  Or are they 'worldly' Lawyers ? 

Are they employed by the Watchtower or are they brothers that do it as part of their 'service to God' ?

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7 hours ago, Matthew9969 said:

The main argument of the lawsuit is the policies that were and are still in place, not about where the abuse happened or by whom.

Given that any hesitancy to report CSA for fear of causing reproach on the congregation has been removed, it is hard to see that anything damaging is “still in place.”

https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2019/02/the-reproach-of-child-sexual-abuse-falls-on-the-abu.html

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9 hours ago, JOHN BUTLER said:

@James Thomas Rook Jr.  "I have a very low opinion of Watchtower Lawyers,"

Can you tell me please who exactly the Watchtower Lawyers are ?  I don't mean names of course, i mean are they themselves Jehovah's Witnesses ?  Are they 'brothers' ?  Or are they 'worldly' Lawyers ? 

Are they employed by the Watchtower or are they brothers that do it as part of their 'service to God' ?

Most of the Brothers that work at Bethel are Jehovah's Witnesses that are full time volunteers, who basically work for free.  Some are part time and work on an as-needed basis, and for certain lawsuits the Society hires , or partners with outside Law Firms, mainly for their common sense approach to things, but also because of their experience in local court systems, and of course they are paid quite a LOT of money.

...but even Lawyers working for the Society, when working a case outside of Colony Park, which is a closed  and gated township about 30 miles east of Warwick, where the Society has about 2 million dollars worth of residential and multiple use properties to keep the lawyers isolated from Warwick, the Society's Lawyers do not ride the bus to work, or stay in a Motel 6 when they are on the road.

First class accomodations and perks, all the way.  After all, they ARE Lawyers! Not like the great crowd of unwashed window washers, and such.

This was explored in greater detail about 5 years ago here on the Archive, but I cannot find anything, anymore, with format changes.

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7 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Most of the Brothers that work at Bethel are Jehovah's Witnesses that are full time volunteers, who basically work for free.  Some are part time and work on an as-needed basis, and for certain lawsuits the Society hires , or partners with outside Law Firms, mainly for their common sense approach to things, but also because of their experience in local court systems, and of course they are paid quite a LOT of money.

...but even Lawyers working for the Society, when working a case outside of Colony Park, which is a closed  and gated township about 30 miles east of Warwick, where the Society has about 2 million dollars worth of residential and multiple use properties to keep the lawyers isolated from Warwick, the Society's Lawyers do not ride the bus to work, or stay in a Motel 6 when they are on the road.

First class accomodations and perks, all the way.  After all, they ARE Lawyers! Not like the great crowd of unwashed window washers, and such.

This was explored in greater detail about 5 years ago here on the Archive, but I cannot find anything, anymore, with format changes.

So in this way the GB/ JW org / W/t are part of the world. No different to anyone else. 

No love, no mercy, no justice, no respect for God, just money. 

How do they expect to pretend to be 'the only means of salvation' ?

Telling people that they must be part of this stinking sinking ship to survive Armageddon. 

 

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