Corney
JoinedTopics Started by Corney
-
5
Jehovah's Witnesses formally join the National Redress Scheme (Australia)
by Corney inthe jehovah's witnesses have formally signed up to the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, more than a year after they were named and shamed for holding out.the federal government has announced another 34 organisations have joined the compensation program, allowing 37 stalled applications for financial support to finally be processed.more than 11,800 redress applications have been received so far, with around half having been processed and almost $530 million in payments made.a total of 526 organisations have signed up to the scheme, along with the commonwealth and all state and territory governments.the jehovah's witnesses were one of six of the original hold-outs, named by social services minister anne ruston in june last year.access to government grants were cut off, and the government sought to challenge the charitable status and tax concessions offered to such organisations as a punishment.
"we think that these strong sanctions have obviously had an impact on the jehovah's witnesses reconsidering their decision not to join," senator ruston said.. read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-10/jehovahs-witnesses-sign-up-to-sexual-abuse-redress-scheme/100449204.
to beter understand the background:.
-
33
Lawsuit: I said GB member Barr that my Bethelite stepfather abused me; he did nothing
by Corney inhere's an excerpt from the recent lawsuit deborah hines v. watchtower bible and tract society of new york et al (paragraphs 158-180), one of 29 known cases brought against the org pursuant to the ny child victims act.
what should be kept in mind is that gerrit lösch apparently worked in europe (the austrian branch and eastern europe) at the time when the abuse was allegedly reported to him (not a gb member then).. plaintiff was raised a member of the jehovah’s witnesses.
she primarily attended meetings at various congregations in arizona.
-
8
Unnoticed 2018 merger in Qubec
by Corney inthree years ago, on september 1 - 4, 2018, watch tower society of quebec (la tour de garde, société de bibles et de traités du québec), finalised its merger ("voluntary amlgamation") with "123 incorporated congregations of jehovah's witnesses in quebec," with kingdom halls owned by these incorporated congregations (total book value - ca$114,390,856, or 92 million usd) becoming assets of the society.
quebec congregations continue to exist as unincorporated associations and registered charities, while wt quebec only "manages, maintains and constructs" khs ("in cooperation with" wt canada and jw congregation support (formerly regional building committee)) and appoints certain elders to officiate marriages in the province.. sources: .
https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplybscsrch .
-
9
Mexico: 2020 Census results released; bad news for the org?
by Corney ina decade ago, the 2010 census found there were 1,561,086 jehovah's witnesses in mexico (census page > tabular data > basic questionnaire > religion).
and according to the recently released 2020 census results, the number of mexicans identifying as such has declined by 2% to 1,530,909. both figures greatly outnumber those reported by the organization (e.g., peak publishers: 710 thousands and 874 thousands respectively), which means the former ones include children and free-riders.
for comparison, the total population has grown by 12%, the catholic, adventist (sda) and mormon (lds) populations - by 5%, 16% and 6% respectively.
-
4
In 4-3 judgment, Montana Supreme Court allows Nunez ($35M) case to be relitigated under another legal theory
by Corney inas a reminder, the plaintiff in that case, alexis nunez, was abused by her step-grandfather, maximo reyes, who have been disfellowshipped for one year for abusing his children.
she sued the organization for failure to report the known abuse to police and was awarded $35 million by a jury while another plaintiff (her aunt) lost her case.
the supreme court of montana reversed the award, finding that congregation and bethel elders were exempt from duty to report.. the plaintiff then asked the district court to allow her to sue the org again under another legal theory - common law negligence - which has been voluntarily abandoned by her counsel before the trial.
-
8
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) dismissed numerous JW tax cases against Armenia
by Corney inby three decisions handed down over the last year, the strasbourg court has declared 12 complaints, all named "christian religious organization of jehovah's witnesses against armenia", inadmissible.
the cases concerned imposition of value-added tax (vat) on imported literature - on 67 shipments received between 2007 and 2015, to be exact.
in short, the organization claimed that, first, the shipments should be tax-free pursuant to article 12 of the freedom of conscience act ("monetary and other gifts received by religious organisations, as well as income received from citizens shall not be subject to taxation"); secondly, the customs authorities arbitrarily determined the customs value of the imports based on, for example, the prices the bible society of armenia (affiliated with the dominant armenian apostolic church) sold imported religious literature.. up until march 2007, there were constant problems receiving regular shipments of religious literature, which should be tax-free but which customs arbitrarily reassessed at unpredictable higher values and then imposed a value-added tax of 20 percent.
-
3
WT intervenes in Ethiopian Church case before Supreme Court of Canada to defend 2018 precedent re excommunication
by Corney intwo and a half years ago, the supreme court of canada has ruled unanimously in highwood congregation of jehovah’s witnesses (judicial committee) v. wall that membership decisions of religious associations are not reviewable or justiciable by courts, absent an underlying legal right.
multiple religious and religiously-affiliated organizations (catholic, protestant, mormon, sikh, muslim) and secular advocacy groups (like canadian constitution foundation and british columbia civil liberties association) intervened in that important case, all - if i remember it correctly - supporting the position of the org.
that mostly correct judgment has been widely accepted by lawyers, scholars and courts.
-
10
Senior Judge to Revisit Case-Law on Authorizing Medical Treatment Against Wishes of Mature Minor
by Corney inhttps://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/ewhc/fam/2020/3003.html.
nearly two weeks ago, sir james munby, a privy council member, formerly a law commission chairman, high court's family division president, and a lord justice of appeal, issued a short emergency order in a blood transfusion case closely resembling mcewan's the children act.. here are some excerpts:.
2. the case involves the deeply troubling question of whether a blood transfusion should be administered to a young woman who is almost, not quite, 16, against her profound religious beliefs.
-
44
Three new lawsuits against Watchtower filed under NY Child Victims Act (CVA) this October, bringing number of CVA cases up to six
by Corney innew cases:.
diaz case, filed on 10/21/2020 by zalkin law firm - two plaintiffs abused (here and hereinafter - allegedly) by two ministerial servants in 1970s.. iglesias case, filed on 10/19/2020 by eisenberg & baum, llp against various nyc and wt entities - abused by an "elder john doe" and "[travelling] overseer john" in 1970s and 1980s.. aldridge case, filed 10/06/2020 by zalkin law firm - abused by a congregation elder in 1970s.. older cases:.
tarry case (no 1 and no 2), filed on 09/17/2019 and 07/23/2020 by parker waichman llp - abused by a publisher in 1984. very weak case.
-
6
EU top court rules on JW blood transfusion case
by Corney inthe court of justice of the european union (cjeu) yesterday delivered the judgment (press release) on a request of the supreme court of latvia on whether domestic authorities are obliged to reimburse costs of cross-border medical treatment when the patient's decision to perform it in another european country was based on religious, not medical, grounds.
the opinion of advocate general (summarized here) is helpful in understanding the case.. the son of the applicant in the main proceedings had to have open heart surgery.
that operation was available in the latter’s member state of affiliation, latvia, but could not be carried out without a blood transfusion.