The Zalkin Law Firm P.C. has filed a new lawsuit in New York on behalf of two childhood sexual abuse victims naming Jehovah’s Witness Governing Body members and other empowered and responsible individuals within the Watchtower organization as defendants. The Watchtower has a long history of defying court orders to produce pertinent documents and records.
Two former Jehovah’s Witnesses claim the church looked the other way when they were sexually abused as children for years — and now plan to sue under a landmark state law that takes effect this week. Lawyers for Heather Steele, 48, and John Michael Ewing, 47, alleged at a press conference Monday that the Witnesses and its eight-member leadership council even maintain a database of church sex offenders that it’s kept secret. The two alleged victims now plan to fight back with separate lawsuits that will be filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday when the Child Victims Act goes into effect.
Kristin Zambo, a reporter for the Rockford, Illinois Register Star, reported in late January 2019 that a county jail inmate filed a federal lawsuit to have the right to receive Watchtower literature and religious materials available to him on tablet computers. He filed the complaint in U.S. District Court naming just about everyone associated with the Winnebago County Jail as defendants.
The Sacramento Bee reported on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, that “A procession of sexual assault victims urged the California State Senate to pass a law requiring priests and other religious leaders to report child abuse, ending a legal exemption that allows them to keep information confidential if they learn it during confessions.”
On Wednesday, September 26, 2018, a jury in Montana ruled that the Watchtower Society must pay $35 million to a woman who says the church covered up her childhood sexual abuse. A Montana jury handed down the penalty on behalf of a 21-year-old woman. You can now read the full court order.
On October 22, 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia released an announcement that a “hotline” had been created to serve survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy and other responsible members of religious organizations. The department’s action was apparently in response to public outcries for federal and state government leaders and agencies to finally take some effective action to track and investigate the ever-increasing numbers of crimes against children by clergy.
In a follow-up article that continues his earlier reporting about the recent Jehovah’s Witness sex abuse case heard in Montana, Seaborn Larson of the Missoulian ties up the loose ends and expands upon the longterm effects that the case may have on the Watchtower organization. We present and preserve it for your consideration as follows: