Children

News Update: Watchtower Appeals $4000 Per Day Fine By Flipflopping On Their Own Legal Argument

In 2013, a former member of the Linda Vista, California, congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Osbaldo Padron, filed a lawsuit against the religion for allowing a known pedophile, Gonzalo Campos, back into the congregation. Padron was one of many children who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Campos.

The court ordered the Watchtower to produce certain documents for the case; the Watchtower refused, so the court ordered them to pay $13. 5 million because of their failure to comply.

The Watchtower appealed, saying that the judge should not have handed down the judgment, but should have given them less severe sanctions. Last year, the appeals court agreed, saying that a less severe sanction might impel the Watchtower to turn over those documents. That court decided to fine Watchtower $4000 per every day that they refused to turn over those documents, as I reported on this page.

As I bring out in that post, $4000 per day sounds like a lot, but counting just business days, that would be $20,000 per week on average, or just over $1 million per year. This isn’t necessarily out of the reach for a wealthy publishing company like the Watchtower, and especially when you consider that the documentation the court is seeking may open them up to additional lawsuits. This is also what the Watchtower wanted; at just over $1 million per year, it would take about 13 years for them to pay the same amount as the original judgment.

Despite that, on October 11 of this year, the Watchtower filed another appeal, “to argue that the trial court was wrong to issue daily sanctions — exactly what they had argued for … just months prior.” (Please see this news story.)

In plain English, the Watchtower was ordered to pay a lump sum of $13.5 million. They didn’t like that, and asked for smaller, daily sanctions instead. They got that, having to pay the $4000 per day, or just about $1 million per year. The Watchtower then flipflopped on their own legal argument, and said that they shouldn’t be facing daily sanctions.

“You can’t have it both ways,” [Justice Richard] Huffman said during argument. “[The Lopez] ruling has come around to bite you and now you’re saying, ‘not fair, not fair.’ You were headed in one direction before and now you’re headed another way. It’s a breathtaking position to listen to.”

The legal flipflopping on their own argument is bad enough, but the obvious bottom line is that Watchtower is arguing for everything except for protecting the victims under their roofs. They fight the victims in court, and fight against releasing records that could implicate other pedophiles. They fight against lump sum judgments, then fight the smaller daily sanctions. They fight for anything and everything, except their victims. They fight the victims in court harder than they do the pedophiles who want to stay in the religion.

I’m no legal expert, but in my opinion, if you’re tired of having to pay for the child sex abuse that happens in your religion, there’s a simple solution; put a stop to the child sex abuse. No more court cases, no more legal fees, no more judgments, no more sanctions.

I would mention that there would also be no more victims having their entire lives stolen, but it seems as if this is the least of Watchtower’s concerns.

The court has 90 days to make their ruling on this appeal, so I’ll try to stay updated. Please use the subscribe buttons on the right to get notified of new posts.

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19 replies »

  1. UNKNOWN JW INFO: You have done great work here and on YOUTUBE. But as one close to the action I have Proof that Jw.Org has not been a force in PUBLISHING since the GOVMNT took away their ability to sell material stateside and abroad (Spain) . They are a respected and known presence in REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS & AQUISITIONS for decades. The majority of their wealth came from duping members into believing that growth ( new congregations) was good for members when they were only benificial to the portfolio of the org. I REGRET TO INFORM ALL OF YOU that JW.org may realistically have over 50 billion in quantifiable assets and liquid capital. We must look at variables that have remained hidden prior to the Internet putting us on to them all at once. Before the simultaneous info, many would protest but we were quicky dismissed and donations continued, building groups still volunteered etc. Now we cause major disruptions in current revenue streams. But they had a 100 year headstart on all of us and they have multiple revenue astreams that act covertly. SOME are as follows:

    1. Free land scouting from members who suggest prime locations .

    2. Tax free property aquisitions for ever.

    3. Free property aquisitions when member pay the mortgage through monthly world wide work donation.

    4. Free or fixed minimal cost construction for new buildings.

    5. Literature paid for by members. As they pick literature up, they always feelcompelled put $ in the box strategically placed neer the lit counter. SIDENOTE: WT has one of the largest printing operations in the world, their printing cost are minimal because of this and the Bethelites fixed cost.

    6. Repairs are often donated through Societies intricate construction network or done in house with volunteers. Example: Repaving parking lot job is done with donated labor or fixed cost from JW builders and congregation is still assesed a prevailing wage cost.

    7 The assemblies and conventions are designed for several purposes but one is a revenue stream. Notice how the amount of a deficit is small enough to move even the penny penchers to donate. If the number is too large ,JW research has found that the middleclass JW wont feel like they can help, so they wont give. In more affluent assemblies, the opposite is done.

    8. The death of baptized members creates a large amount of money for the org. Again research shows that active JWs average a certain age upon death. The numbers are very specific and often spoken of during Bethel board meetings. But if 10 elderly JWs die at that average age of natural causes, the Org can expect to see almost 3 of those have left the Org in their estate. The revenue of those 3 outweigh the other 7 substantially.

    9. Institutional stock purchases and hedge fund investments.Jw.org can take your donations and invest and wait for a 2% positive move in a stock and make millions in a day. They must report these investmenta but they use in house lawyers and shell corps and hundreds of LLCs to cover the paper trail. Lawyers will never divulge the info because of attorney client privelige plus they only get 4 to 5 shell corp to create and work at a time per attorney. So there can never be a convergence of much information at any one point. the Org also uses Lawyers and accountants in the UK, asia, russia .

    10. Senior , homes make almost 5 k per month per tenant .

    11. Purchase of extremely large parcels of land then subdivide and reselling once the market of that area increases. This formula was done in the USA and the UK first and has been duplicated in Africa the Netherlands,Jamaica and Australia.

    12. Closing kingdom halls in prime locations and reopening them in the same cities . This shows the thirst for cash infussions over the religious goals. Why sell? Why not renovate or rebuild in the same location? They have the resourses to do it economically but they take the cash instead.

    13. Opening 6 halls per week is 2000 per year. This is a money grab bcus, they have 98,500 others to dwal with while this one appreciates. It will be 10 years and a better maket b4 they get back to that one.

    14. There are many more money schemes that I have seen them commit and Icould go on for days in this thread. Example: The website Jw.org was brought about after a Bethelites child pitched the advantage of Publishing Reductions, Online Donations and Legal Data Collection. The GOV BODY went with the site for saving MONEY and member monitoring. When you downloaded the ap JW.org, it tells them the average # of ppl at meetings, doing private study, going from their site to google or youtube etc etc. I have tons of info that very few ppl know. Take care

    BUT PLEASE DONT CALL THEM BROKE AND DONT CALL THEm A PUBLISHING CORP. THEY ARE VERY WEALTHY AND THEY ARE A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPING COMPANY with 98K PROPERTIES. If each property was conservatively underestimated at $200k each that would be OVER $19 Billion dollars! Dont give them a dime ! !

    • Utterly utterly bloody sinister. I pray I might live long enough to see its collapse and the villains responsible stripped of their ill gotten gains and dumped on the streets.

    • Rest in Jehovah and wait patiently for Him; inflame not yourself with him who prospers in his way, with the man practicing evil wiles.
      Abstain from anger and cease from fury; also do not inflame yourself to do evil.
      For evildoers shall be cut off; and the ones waiting on Jehovah, they shall inherit the earth.
      It is but a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, you shall consider his place, and he is not.
      But the meek shall inherit the earth; yea, they shall delight themselves in abundant peace. Psalm 37:7-11

  2. John 3:19 -21 And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than the Light, for their works were evil.
    For everyone practicing wickedness hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, that his works may not be exposed.
    But the one doing the truth comes to the Light, that his works may be revealed, that they exist, having been worked in God.

    Mark 4:22, 23 For not anything is hidden but that it will be revealed, nor anything become covered but that it will come to light.
    If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

  3. The Watchtower has reached a really new low by continuing to fight this lawsuit in such a way. The fact that they are using the donations sent to them – probably including those given over the years by the victims, or the victims families – makes this an extra-sickening thing to do!
    They should face up to their responsibilites to all the people they have hidden the paedophilia problem from, face the music, and pay up what they owe to the victims!
    That’s the least any real Christian would do!

    • Katy you make some very good salient points in your analysis of the cruel nature of the Governing Body paying the 4000 dollars a day with our contributions which is about 1.5 Million Dollars a year!! Absolutely Criminal!!

  4. It makes any decent person sick to think the Watchtower society was quick enough to condemn the Catholic Church over its cover up of sex abuse in its organisation but remains so silent on its JW.org website of its own hidden crimes! Absolutely Disgusting!!

  5. This week they encourage the JWs to donate their money through electronic devices. The main point is to encourage JWs to donate money regularly or by standing instructions. Honestly speaking, IF they handled their sex abuse cases properly or in the Bible way, the donations would have become sensible.

  6. they the watchtower cult …has money and has lawyers ..and a pedo problem.. but refuse to help ,or change there reporting policy’s ,and the poor kids are still being sexually assaulted ,its time…. to let your neighbor’s KNOW .

  7. They tried the same at the ARC with ‘clergy/laity division. They claim they have no clergy then claimed clergy confidentiality.

  8. Scumtower on the way out… It’s just a matter of time until our collective weight puts them in the bottom of the swamp where they belong..

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