Reporter Dorian Hargrove of the San Diego Reader reported that a Superior Court judge has imposed a $4000 per day penalty against the Watchtower Society. He acted due to their refusal to produce court-ordered documents. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were responding to his order in a sex abuse trial involving a JW elder and a seven-year-old child. [Updated June 25, 2016]
Here is a portion of Hargrove’s report:
Judge sanctions Jehovah’s Witnesses
Imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case
By Dorian Hargrove, June 24, 2016
A San Diego Superior Court judge has ordered the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, also known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, Osbaldo Padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.
In a June 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge Richard Strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 Body of Elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.
Hargrove reported that during the previous year the Watchtower’s lawyers did everything they could to keep one specific related document out of court, claiming that to submit a requested letter to the court “would infringe on the names and privacy of others.” Instead, they provided a heavily redacted copy of the letter – essentially making the document unreadable.
The judge also made it clear that the Watchtower clearly and obstinately chose to ignore the court’s prior order.
Read the entire San Diego Reader article at this LINK.
Read an earlier San Diego Reader article relating to this same case.
PDF copy of original article:
Judge sanctions Jehovah’s Witnesses _ San Diego Reader
NEW!!! ADDED 06/25/2016! PDF of Judge’s Court Order for $4000 daily fine against Watchtower Society: Judge’s Order: $4000 Daily Fine
Thank you Barbara. Greetings from Zagreb 🙂
Thanks Barb. When are you coming to Los Angeles?. you promised me a visit 🙂
I love that the society is slowly bleeding. They are so arrogant to have ignored the Judges request for documents.
Take care!
This needs to be sent to every national and esp local news sources so that local JWs can see the ‘truth’ from 3rd party (courts) sources how their “God’s Organization” is covering up the horrendous child abuse cases. They need to see that the Orgn. they are dedicated to is not ‘coming clean’ but instead in hiding their corruptness by shirting responsibility by not coming to the aid of victims. But making the victim of abuse to be yet a further victim of their insensitivity to the damage inflicted on the children.
Exposure of this type of inexcusable behavior must be brought to the attention of current JWs who know nothing of this. JW.org is completely silent in hopes it will just go away. So much more can be said but words alone are not enough. Do what you can to expose this in your locality and do so frequently.
I am finally taking my Disfellowshipping to the Supreme Court. (its been 26 yrs of sadistic shunning and loss of entire family, that has systematically derailed my life) Its time to try to blow the lid off it. I found a half dozen broken laws that their safe little religious laws don’t protect them with (everything from Torture/Purposeful intent at causing great suffering/mental pain etc) Crimes Against Humanity, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Commissioner is backing me with ‘No one shall be subjected to exile’, the HRDDP has legislative policies in place that prevent religious discrimination, Section Fifteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, hell I’ll even bring up the US’s Universal Code of Basic Human Rights. Any DF’d person out there who has experienced this, lets collectively….TAKE DOWN THIS BEAST!
They are not immune from the law. They cannot try to give a Biblical scripture exempting them. Keep up the good work. I pray that many people in this organization o-pen their eyes.
Shouldn’t we do something in addition to praying? Like work with our prayers. Any ideas?