by cedars 339 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
If the Society IS put into serious financial hardship as a result of this case, directly or indirectly (via other similar lawsuits) it wouldn't surprise me if some form of tithing was introduced - or at least an overt attempt to solicit funds from the congregations.
I can foresee this happening before things get REALLY bad. I can also foresee this forum being awash with threads like "How can we stop our JW relatives giving all their savings to the WT?!"
Chilling stuff.
Cedars
1-0 in favor of Tylinbrando!
District Convention Donations?
$1,000,000 / 35,000 JWs = $28.57/person in attendance
Not hard to believe!
Thats right. Again there were stacks of pesonal checks that required us to make multiple receipts for tax purposes. Was not an easy task.
What will blow your mind is that the process of collecting this money from contribution boxes at the assembly was RAPID. If the assembly ended at 4:30 on Friday, we were gathered, sorted, counted, loaded and delivered for a late deposit withing 2 hours.
At conventions of 12,000 in attendance it was still close to half a million per day. There were many personal checks in the amount of 10k, 25k, and 50k at those conventions and we would speculate those publishers probably made that their donation for the year.
Where was this, Beverly Hills?!?!?!?!?
I worked a few CAs in accounting, we were fortunate to bring in 8-10k for the weekend with around 1000 publishers. I thought $10 per publisher was great at the time.
OTWO said:
A business can only sustain a loss for so long. WTS is a giant business, not a charitable organization.
Yup. But as the Mormons won't tell you, the best business in America is one that runs under the tax-exempt status of a religion. As the old saying goes, religion in the US is big business.
Folks, like it or not, $17 Mil is likely petty cash for WT.
Think of it: they easily take in more than that per year in wills of elderly widows who die childless and leave their house, investments, stocks, annuities, etc to the WT. Even ignoring all other forms of cash contributions, THAT would likely easily surpass $17 Mil (isn't that figure availbale in the Yearbook, or WT annual statements?).
It's simply a common legal strategy to plead about hardship, and avoid paying out a settlement for as long as possible. They're playing the same legal game as any other corporation does when slapped with a adverse ruling and judgment: drag their feet.
The incessant reports of WT's impending financial Armageddon are just as nauseating as JWs warning about Armageddon: same Chicken Little schtick, but simply decrying the downfall of the ones who call for downfall.
It's driven by the same narcissism that leads to believing that things will happen because you WANT them to happen, and it's exactly the same dynamic that keeps R&F locked into the JWs, who think Armageddon is JUST around the corner (where they ask themselves, "what if I leave today, and Armageddon comes tomorrow?"). Armageddon, real or financial, ain't coming anytime soon.
I worked a few CAs in accounting, we were fortunate to bring in 8-10k for the weekend with around 1000 publishers. I thought $10 per publisher was great at the time.
In one Los Angeles area, the circuit assembly would be attended on average by about 3500 attendees. Without fail we would collect $12,000 for Saturday's session. Sunday we would give a talk about the "Needs of the Circuit" and explain that after operating expenses of X and X amount of dollars we were in the RED. AND THATS IT. Brother would walk off the stage. Everyone in the audience would think "OH crap I need to help out, I will drop a 20 in the box, no I will drop 2 20s in the box because I know not everyone is going to donate."
As a body of elders we always without fail agreed to send the surplus donations from the circuit to the WBTS' world wide work fund. What we never announced was how much was donated on Sundays.
We regularly sent $50,000 on to Brooklyn. We were one circuit in one state on one weekend. Multiply by 1000 every weekend all year long.
A couple of points:
1. " the Watch Tower Society was forced by the Alameda County Court to guarantee that it would pay the full multi-million dollar award due to Candace Conti in the event of losing their appeal."
This is not true. No California court can impose such a requirement upon any defendant. The WTBTS filed the undertaking to take advantage of laws that would stay enforcement of the judgment. Under those laws, by posting the appeal bond/undertaking, the WTBTS prevents Conti from being able to immediately execute upon Watchtower assets. With the undertaking in place, Conti is prevented from making any effort to collect upon her judgment until the appeal is disposed of.
2. " Amazingly, the Society is prepared to put their Patterson complex (The Watchtower Educational Center) on the line over this judgment, offering it as surety rather than starting the payments. " and
" Speculation aside, one thing that cannot be denied is that the Society is desperate enough to gamble with Patterson, its greatly esteemed educational facility and home of the Gilead School, and risk losing it to Candace Conti if the appeal fails."
That's not amazing, and it's not a gamble, it's simply a good move. By substituting real estate for a cash bond, they avoid having to pay a substantial fee for the bond. Patterson is not really at risk as the Society has plenty of assets to pay the judgment if they suffer an adverse outcome on the appeal. Patterson would only be sold if Conti prevails on the appeal and the WTBTS did not/could not pay the judgment.
3. " However, this remarkable proposal has been blocked by Candace’s legal team. "
Not true. The motion has not been heard yet; we'll have to wait until the hearing on 11/8/12 to see if Conti's lawyers have "blocked" the WTBTS' efforts.
4. " Only time will tell whether things are really this desperate, or whether this is just an elaborate and reckless piece of strategizing on the part of the Society."
Reckless? No time is needed to tell you that there is nothing reckless about the WTBTS effort to save money on the bond by substituting Patterson as collateral.
The article omits mention that on 10/18, the WTBTS successfully argued an ex parte application to shorten the time required for notice of the hearing on the motion regarding using Patterson as collateral.
KS!
Beeing a gentleman makes all the difference in the world!
Make an experiment and see what happens!
I am sure you will get many new friends here!
Love from you brother Healthworker
144001 - Im posting on my wife's account because Im on my way to bed.
At least one of your points is wrong (point 3), and I have knowledge/evidence to support what I have said - even if you disagree with the wording. As to the rest, I will look into your observations in the morning and make any comments/alterations as necessary.
Thanks for your interest in my article.
Cedars
I took a break and read the entire pleading, instead of the just the portions that were excerpted on Cedar's link.
In plain English...no jargon.
First, the WTS is claiming irreparable harm if the motion is not heard on a shortened timetable. They need to have their motion granted on a shortened timetable because the premium payment is due Nov. 18th. They are claiming irreparable harm to get bumped to the front of the motions line. Edit: see also 144,001's note. I believe he is saying this was granted.
What is the irreparable harm if their motion is not heard before Nov. 18th? They must deposit the money on or before Nov. 18th. Conti might spend that money, and if they win on appeal, they will likely never be able to get it back because she lacks assets.
I actually just worked on a similar case involving the county. We won a claim against an individual (case A) and they won a claim against us (case B). The county had to deposit the money due on the case B on day X. The county attorney deposited the money with the court, and then turned around and filed a garnishment action against the individual for the money they owed the county on case A. Our fear was that they would spend the money we had just deposited, and that the county would never be able to get the money the people owed the county from case A because they lacked assets. BTW, our garnishment was illegal because our state has a statutory automatic 30-day stay; we ended up having to pay their attorney's fees on our illegal garnishment...seriously p*ssed, but the county attorney screwed up. Edit: see also 144,001's point #1 and #2.
Second, they are not arguing they don't have the money; in fact, they admit quite plainly that they have plenty of cash and real property assets.
BTW, I appreciate Cedar's passion, and his other articles have been great. ; )
