https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/04/27/nearly-23b-awarded-sex-abuse/

"A woman who was molested for years by her stepfather has been awarded $2.28 billion by a California jury in a lawsuit that also implicated her mother and the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which both parents were active, her attorneys announced.

The panel in Riverside County Superior Court awarded damages Tuesday to a woman described in court papers only as Jane Doe, who said she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather from age 5 until she was 14, according to an announcement by the law firm of Gary A. Dordick.

The lawsuit alleged that beginning in the 1980s, the stepfather sexually abused the girl. The assaults took place at their Lake Elsinore home and at events, meetings, and property of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the lawsuit said.

In addition to the stepfather, the negligence and sexual abuse suit also named the Utah-based church and the woman’s mother. It alleged that the woman repeatedly told Latter-day Saint officials, including local lay bishops, about the sexual abuse but that they failed to report it to law enforcement in violation of church policy and also used “intimidation and shaming tactics” to keep her from telling anyone outside the church."

Unfortunately, the church only pays $1 million.

"While denying wrongdoing, the church settled its part of the lawsuit for $1 million in December, and the woman’s mother settled for $200,000 in February, according to the woman’s lawyers.

I share your chagrin.

The one encouraging facet of the report is that the church was not able to obtain a confidentiality agreement. I bet SLC would have doubled the sum if the victim had consented to keep the files closed.

Yea, one million isn’t even a slap on the wrist for TSCC, but at least it’s public.

Her high school basketball coach was the one who reported it after the girl asked for help. All those years asking for help, and the coach was the only one who stepped up. Why? Because all school district employees are mandated reporters. Just like all medical professionals are mandated reporters. Church officials, not so much.

Another detail from Jane Doe's complaint that I find interesting and ironic.

When she made the high school basketball team, she noticed her stepfather looking at her teammates, and she decided to open up to her coach about the abuse.

Her coach was a woman. That woman told a counselor, who told the police, who arrested the stepfather that same day.

After all the men she'd been told God had put in her life with priesthood power and authority to bless and help and protect her, the person who finally started to put an end to her misery was a woman.

1 million is not even a slap on the wrist

Does this mean I'm a full tithe payer if I pay 0.005% of my income?

Information: https://floodlit.org/a/a610/

This case is truly heartbreaking.

When the stepfather was sentenced in the 1990s, the victim sat alone on one side on the courtroom.

On the other side, in support of her abuser, sat her mother, their bishop, and several LDS missionaries.

This is according to Jane Doe's complaint, of which I have a copy.

Also, when she first told that bishop about the abuse, he made her hug her stepfather, express forgiveness to him, and sent her home with him that night. And the abuse continued.

Will add more info at floodlit (at the link above) in coming days. We're getting civil court records from Riverside County.

I wonder how much church leadership is still endorsing, "And the Truth shall set you free!"...?

Although I suppose from their perspective, The Truth and 'our truth' don't necessarily have to have anything in common and each may have its own place and time.

Right. There's truth and then there's "Church Newsroom" truth.

Thanks again for what you are doing.

Yes, thanks, 3am. People need to know that the Mormon church does *not* support sex abuse cases.

Thank you, summer and Lot's Wife.

That is so sad. I hope that when and if she finds a life partner, that her partner's family becomes the family she always deserved. The fact that her stepfather got so much support from the church is horrific. And any mother that doesn't fully support her daughter under these circumstances doesn't deserve to be a mom.

She settled for $200,000?

I assume she was a full tithe payer. Had she not been, she might have easily paid that $200,000. Wonder if the Church will assist her financially.

Another all too common example of supporting that loathsome church even if it means throwing their own kids under the bus!

Did the victim settle for 200k from the church, or from her mother? I assume the latter, and I assume that her mother isn’t as loaded as TSCC, but I could be wrong.

One million from the church, 200,000 from Mommy Dearest.

I find myself wondering if the plaintiff was so overwhelmed with legal bills that she struck the deal with the church in part to finance the ongoing struggle.

I'm no legal expert, but assuming the case was taken on contingency, she shouldn't have incurred legal bills, right? But if someone waved a million dollars in her face, it might have been hard to turn down.

In really expensive cases attorneys sometimes go half-and-half, meaning that they won't foot all the costs if the case drags out too long.

But I'm just speculating, trying to understand why the plaintiff would let the defendant with the deepest pockets off the hook. A straight contingency arrangement would militate against that.

I hope it didn't happen, but sometimes an attorney will settle his client's case because he needs "some" money now versus a whole ship-load later.

Yep.

The agent-principal problem: the attorney (agent) has different interests from the principal (plaintiff). The former will often want a sure payment now rather than a larger speculative one later--and the attorney has more leverage relative to the plaintiff than vice versa.

She is very brave to sue the lds church knowing that the lds church is very rich. Do I dare ask what callings the pedophile had?

Protecting the abuser and coercing the victim to forgive the abuser seems to be a common theme in the Mormon church.

The first and last time I went to Institute class in the Mormon church, back in the early 80s, the teacher talked about how he'd been working with a sister who'd been sexually abused by her father. The institute teacher's goal was to get her to forgive her father. He counseled her for a long time till she finally agreed to visit her father who was in prison for abusing her. The teacher proudly announced to the class that she finally gave her sexually abusive father a big hug - at the institute teacher's urging - and told him she forgave him. The Institute teacher really patted himself on the back for that.

I looked around the class at the faces of the other students to see if anyone else was as horrified as I was. No one else seemed bothered. I was fresh off my mission and not comfortable saying anything against the teacher/Mormon church. I never went back to institute.

Why would anyone think it a was good idea to have a woman hug the man who sexually abused her for years? Why encourage her to have body contact with her abuser? Obviously her church leaders were totally clueless.

My father was a very violent man and physically abusive. He loved to spank the sh_t out of me and shake me till my head about snapped off. One morning he pulled me out of bed and spanked me because I had wet the bed. No "good morning," he just yanked me out of bed and spanked me. What a great way to start the day when you are a child.

I really hated it when my dad tried to apologize to me after he spanked me. He did it in a pouty way so I would feel sorry for him. I didn't feel sorry for him for spanking me. I couldn't look him in the eye when he was giving me his whiny apology, so he'd spank me again because I wouldn't look at him when he was apologizing.

I can imagine how the woman felt when she was coerced into forgiving and hugging her abuser. She was made to feel sorry for her step father for abusing her, which is totally f'd up and probably made her sick. It makes me feel sick when I think about it. I'm glad she got a settlement although it wasn't enough. I'm glad the Mormon church is being exposed for protecting the abusers over the victims, just so "the church" won't look bad. They only care about their image.