A lawsuit was recently filed against the Watchtower Society by Melanie Popper. Melanie Popper was alledgedly abused by her father from 1985 to 1995. In 1988 he was appointed a Ministerial Servant. No one was ever told of the abuse, not the elders, not the Watchtower Society. In fact, she admits that she did not even remember the abuse until years later when her 'repressed memories' returned to her. How could the Watchtower Society or the elders have done anything about the abuse? Nonetheless, the lawsuit was filed and of course it is referred to and highlighted at the Silentlambs site.
Now here is the gist of the lawsuit. It is claimed that since her father was a ministerial servant, then he was acting in behalf of the Watchtower Society and Jehovah's Witnesses. Therefore he had a duty to report himself as a wrongdoer abusing his child. But he didn't report himself. Therefore, since he represented the Watchtower Society as a servant then the Watchtower Society is libel for his actions against his daughter and his failure to report himself since he was charged with reporting wrongdoing as a servant. Talk about 'circular reasoning'. It is absurd.
According to Law.com, attorney Kimberlee Norris of Love and Norris made this comment: "Sexual molestation cases are like dog bite cases. Every dog gets one bite, every perpetrator gets one kid." Although she was not speaking about this specific case, from her comment it can easily be deduced that Popper has little if any chance of winning.
Imagine if the courts were to rule in the favor of Popper. What would that mean? It could mean that Walmart, for example, or any other corporation, could be found libel because they unknowingly promoted a person who was molesting his child to a managerial position. Walmart could be negligent in putting a molester in that position, although they never knew he was molesting his child. The courts of the land would have an endless barage of frivilous lawsuits if companies were held libel for the crimes that their employees in managerial positions commit against family members. It would be an absolute circus.
If this is one of the best cases that Silentlambs can refer us to, then their hopes of exposing the evil 'pedophile paradise' is swirling toward the drain rapidly. How could the Watchtower Society or the elders be libel or guilty of anything? They never knew about the abuse. I guess they are expected to be psychics and/or mindreaders. How would you like to be sued over something you never knew anything about? Ever here the expression,'That's news to me.' This appears to be just another frivolous lawsuit against the Watchtower Society hyped up by opposers like the Silentlambs group.
Chapter Twenty-four: Who Has a Better Policy?