On 10 December 2018, California's Fourth District Court of Appeal (Case No. E066555) affirmed a trial court judgment of 4,016,152.39 dollars against Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., the governing corporate body of Jehovah's Witnesses, in a civil suit brought on behalf of a woman identified in court papers only as J.W. The suit alleged Watchtower's negligent hiring and retention practices created the risk of molestation that a congregation elder carried out against her during a 2006 pool party at his residence, at the Mountain View Jehovah's Witness congregation. The elder was later convicted in separate criminal proceedings of molesting J.W. and two other children; he is not named here. The judgment itself, 3 million dollars for pain and suffering, 1 million dollars for future medical expenses and 16,152.39 dollars in costs, arose as a terminating sanction after Watchtower refused to comply with discovery orders and produce documents it had received in response to its own 1997 letter to congregations concerning known child molesters. No living individual is named as offender or survivor.
Facts
Inquiry Profile
Kind of Record JurisdictionCalifornia, United States (Fourth District Court of Appeal, Case No. E066555) 1 Publication Year Period Covered, FromBoth sources date the molestation itself to 2006; the judgment and appeal followed years later. Period Covered, ToSame single 2006 incident as period-start-year; the underlying abuse is not described as spanning further years. Documented Findings
Victim EstimateSourced to the subject's own accountBoth sources agree the elder was criminally convicted of molesting three children in total, J.W. and two others; only J.W.'s own civil suit is the subject of this judgment. Key FindingBoth sources note the judgment did not turn on a fresh finding of the elder's guilt (already established by his prior criminal convictions) but on Watchtower's own conduct during the civil case: it was found guilty of destroying or withholding documents responsive to its own 1997 internal inquiry into known molesters, and the terminating sanctions imposed for that discovery failure, rather than a jury verdict on the underlying facts, are what the appellate court upheld. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Belongs to Tradition
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.