Court reverses $35M verdict against Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015, file photo, the iconic Watchtower sign is seen on the roof of 25-30 Columbia Heights, then world headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The Montana Supreme Court has reversed a $35 million judgment against the Jehovah's Witnesses for not reporting a girl's sexual abuse to authorities. The state's high court said in a 7-0 decision Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, that the church is not required to report because its doctrine requires that clergy keep reports of child abuse confidential. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court has reversed a $35 million judgment against the Jehovah’s Witnesses for not reporting a girl’s sexual abuse to authorities. The state’s high court said in a 7-0 decision Wednesday that the church is not required to report because its doctrine requires that clergy keep reports of child abuse confidential.
The ruling overturns a 2018 jury verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages to a woman who said she was abused as a child by a member of the Thompson Falls congregation in the mid-2000s. Church attorneys say elders handled the allegations internally in accordance with church practices.
