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Jehovah’s Witnesses Must Pay Woman $35 Million in Abuse Lawsuit, Jury Rules

Two women claim that their local church failed to take meaningful action on their abuser after consulting with national organization.

A jury ruled in a Wednesday verdict that the Jehovah’s Witnesses must pay a 21-year-old woman $35 million after she claimed the national organization told Montana clergy members not to report her child sexual abuse perpetrated by a congregation member. NBC News reports that the case involved two women, now 21 and 32, who were allegedly abused by a family member in Thompson Falls in the 1990s and 2000s. The congregation member also allegedly abused a third family member. Both women claim they reported the abuse to church elders and that the church “handled the matter internally” after consulting with the national organization. The congregation member was expelled from the church in 2004 but was reinstated a year later, and the abuse against the 21-year-old allegedly continued. The women’s lawsuit claims that church and national organization were “negligent” and violated a Montana law that required them to report the abuse to outside authorities. The $35 million penalty will still have to be reviewed by the judge, and the national organization—the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York—said it will appeal.