Hello everyone, if the elders start hounding someone to attend a judicial committee meeting is there any legal recourse that someone can take to make them back off? I know that sometimes they will just at the threat of it. Thoughts?
Ant legal recourse?
by Huxley1979 15 Replies latest jw friends
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Huxley1979
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road to nowhere
Stalking?
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Justaguynamedmorph
Hux, can i call you hux..?...... you have options, but legal is not really one of them. The fact is the wt has a legal department and whole lot of case law that says they can throw anyone out of their club anytime they want. Thats just fact.
now here is the good news (HA! See what i did there, ‘good news’?) You do have options. First and fore most though is YOU have to decide what you want out of this and why.
What i mean is, why do you care if they call you before a JC? Is it family, is it friends, is there some other reason you dont want to be DF’d or do you just want to “win”?
The answer to that will tell you a lot about what to do next. If you share a little of the “why” i will give my .02 about how to get the result you want, but My long experience as an elder and now former cult member tells me, from both sides of the equation, legal is a dead end and a guaranteed DF’ing.
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Atlantis
You might consider a letter like this one.
Petra! -
Huxley1979
Hi Justaguynamedmorph, it would only be to avoid being DF’d because of the effect it would have on family relationships.
Hi Petra, that letter is awesome. Has that worked before?
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Justaguynamedmorph
Ok cool, so ask then, why do they want to meet with you and how comfortable are you with what they know? Is it to discuss apostasy, a sexual relationship, etc? You may likely be able to bluff your way through a JC if they only have suspicions and no real proof of anything.
That letter is not a path to anything except being df’d. They wouldnt be asking you to a JC if they didnt have reason to believe you still considered yourself a witness, which is the limited scope of that letter. -
Atlantis
Huxley1979:
I would have to ask Atlantis if a letter like that has worked before. He said there are several legal letters that have been posted that will turn away any judicial committee.
If that letter is 20 years old, then I was only 6 years old when it was posted. I can ask and see if it worked.
Petra!
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cyberjesus
if they don't have any proof... deny deny deny.. they can't do anything without witnesses, proof or a confession.
if they do.. then treating legal action against every elder as a man and the wt will force them to call the headquarters... they usually will tell the elders to just let it go...
btw this not legal counsel.... only observations on past experiences
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Listener
From experiences written here in the past, writing a letter advising that you intend to take legal action if they continue to pursue the issue of df will sometimes prevent any action being taken.
As to why it works in some situations and not others is not clear. It may have a lot to do with your current status as a JW, particularly, whether you are active or inactive.
If you are active then you could still be considered a JW member and it appears that the Watchtower can decide whether to formally reject you as one. If you are not currently active then it may be that the Watchtower has no authority over you and any so called membership status does not exist. However, your actions could reactivate that relationship. You need to be careful not to acknowledge being a member or even formally disassociating yourself.
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minimus
The elders are not your boss. They can say anything they want. It’s up to you to either do as they say or simply not recognize their so called authority. They really have no power over you. Really!!!