NOM

Looks like it's happening.

News article: http://kutv.com/news/local/woman-who-ac ... lds-church

The article summarizes and links to other articles on the main events relating to the lawsuit.

Lawsuit text (20 pages): https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume ... Church.pdf

I found this to be very well written. A reader without legal background should have no problem with it. In particular, the timeline on pages 3-9 is a fine summary of what is publicly known about who knew what and when.

Sam Young asks Utahns to attend the news conference: https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comme ... ishop_for/

Thursday, April 5, 11:00am

Hilton Salt Lake City Center
255 South West Temple

Today, McKenna Denson filed suit against the LDS Church and Joseph Bishop.

Tomorrow morning, she will hold a news conference in SLC to tell her story and respond to questions.

This is a big deal. It’s a tragic example how we are grooming our children. We are the only church in America who grooms their kids to be vulnerable to the advances of sexual predators.

McKenna and her lawyer plan to express their support of Protect-The-Children.

PLEASE COME…if you can. I’ll be there.

News media takes note of attendance. Let’s make as big a showing as possible.

Lawsuit items 36-39 (pages 9-10) are directly relevant to protecting children and other vulnerable people from predation. Paraphrases:

36. The church acted negligently by not having policies in place to keep predators out of positions of authority, and by teaching youth to strictly trust those authorities.

37. The church acted negligently by not having procedures to monitor predators, and by sanctioning one-on-one interactions between vulnerable people and authorities.

38. The church aided and abetted Bishop's attempted rape of Denson by failing to take action against Bishop despite having "actual or constructive notice" of his previous crimes. The church is an accessory to assault and battery, and is in any event liable for it.

39. When the church learned of Bishop's assault on Denson, it didn't do a damned thing, thereby failing to protect any future victims.

They're going for the jugular. The discovery phase alone will probably cost the church a great deal of reputation. Any of these claims that are upheld will establish precedent that paves the way for a class-action lawsuit. Further, if the church loses and doesn't respond by changing its policies, it will be permanently vulnerable to lawsuits over future assaults done by its leaders.

I sincerely hope Denson doesn't settle. I want to see the policies changed and that facade of perfection torn down.

I had to look up a legal term repeatedly used in the lawsuit. Constructive, as in "constructive notice" or "constructive knowledge": https://legal-dictionary.thefreediction ... nstructive

That which exists, not in fact, but as a result of the operation of law. That which takes on a character as a consequence of the way it is treated by a rule or policy of law, as opposed to its actual character.

For example, constructive knowledge is notice of a fact that a person is presumed by law to have, regardless of whether he or she actually does, since such knowledge is obtainable by the exercise of reasonable care.

In this case, the plaintiff alleges that the church had constructive knowledge of Bishop's crimes because any reasonable set of policies and procedures would ensure that his confessed crimes would be knowledge in fact (e.g. written down).

Denson wants court-ordered policy changes! Pages 16-19, too numerous to summarize.

Just the first item, on page 16:

72. Plaintiff DENSON also prays for equitable relief from this Court for non-monetary redress and the protection of DENSON and other similarly situated members of the public, as follows: POLICY CHANGES: Learn of a crime? Don’t call the help line. CALL. THE. POLICE.

I have no idea how likely it is that the court will order policy changes.

Don’t get too excited - ecclesiastical interviews are a powerful control mechanism the Church won’t give up easily. That said, at the very least this case will remain in the public eye for some time, and won’t go away quietly like the Church probably hoped.

I am glad they included this section - the Church’s response to this has been shameful and despicable, and they deserve to be called out for it:

45. From 1987 to December of 2017, church leaders, on each occasion, caused ongoing and aggravated emotional distress by not believing, or discounting, DENSON and by not investigating her allegations. Moreover, in an apparent effort to protect the Church and the self- proclaimed sexual predator, leaders engaged in an ongoing pattern of not only failing to believe DENSON, but even more disturbing, blaming and shaming DENSON.
46. Defendants were negligent in their actions, blame and shame practices, courses of conduct, and omissions as described hereinabove.

I am trying not to get too hopeful about the outcomes of this whole thing, but I really hope it leads to real change in how the church and its members think, talk, and act about abuse. For decades the modus operandi has been to cover up and try to "protect the good name of the church." The script needs to be flipped, such that institutional reputation is tied to how quickly and transparently the church responds to abuse and how effective its preventative policies are, rather than how convincing the facade of perfection is.

More selfishly, I also hope it gives me leeway with family to fade away even more from church engagement.

Reuben wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:16 am
In this case, the plaintiff alleges that the church had constructive knowledge of Bishop's crimes because any reasonable set of policies and procedures would ensure that his confessed crimes would be knowledge in fact (e.g. written down).

In other words, "Any caring institution or individual SHOULD have known the risks and by not taking steps to safeguard against such an occurrence you are now deemed negligent and liable."

And really, really stupid....

One unfortunate result of the Church trying to dig up dirt on McKenna Denson, was her daughter who had been given away for adoption, finding out that McKenna was her biological mother. The lawyer for the Church who were compiling ammunition used the sealed adoption records from LDS Social Services.

While this was seemingly unethical and illegal, they might have been compelled by a court-sanctioned angel with a drawn sword who insisted they pry into the sealed adoption records because there would be hell to pay otherwise.

I suggest that anyone attending the upcoming news conference should consider wearing a bright, yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirt. This will be extra effective at the inevitable news conference for the growing list of LDS fertility doctors who engaged in "non-consensual conception". I never foresaw that Ancestry.com would end up revealing more than the LDS church ever expected.

Reuben wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:29 am Sam Young asks Utahns to attend the news conference: https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comme ... ishop_for/

Thursday, April 5, 11:00am

Hilton Salt Lake City Center
255 South West Temple

Today, McKenna Denson filed suit against the LDS Church and Joseph Bishop.

Tomorrow morning, she will hold a news conference in SLC to tell her story and respond to questions.

This is a big deal. It’s a tragic example how we are grooming our children. We are the only church in America who grooms their kids to be vulnerable to the advances of sexual predators.

McKenna and her lawyer plan to express their support of Protect-The-Children.

PLEASE COME…if you can. I’ll be there.

News media takes note of attendance. Let’s make as big a showing as possible.

Just finished watching it! Sam said some really beautiful things to McKenna at the end of it! I'm so proud of her.

WOW.

It would be interesting if other victims of Bishop come forward. I'm sure this is not isolated.

PS. I just read the legal doc. Its pretty convincing. There is gunna be some legal wrangling over this. If another victim comes forward, the church is in for a ride.

Have any national news groups picked up on this? Do you think that will be forthcoming?

The press conference was amazing. If you have not watched it, I highly recommend taking the time to watch and listen.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/04/05/ ... -a-victim/

I have a feeling the church leaders are going to want to offer a settlement....and fast.


********************

AllieOop wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:44 pm The press conference was amazing. If you have not watched it, I highly recommend taking the time to watch and listen.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/04/05/ ... -a-victim/

I have a feeling the church leaders are going to want to offer a settlement....and fast.


********************

I was very impressed with the conference and the way McKenna handled herself. If anyone bought into the BS dossier that was leaked to the press, trying to discredit her as a crazy serial false allegationist, the conference should put that to rest. She's a serious person with a horrific story to tell.

It would be interesting if other victims of Bishop come forward. I'm sure this is not isolated.

The statement from President Newsroom admits that they are aware of a second victim of Bishop. I can't help but think the dam is finally breaking, and the church's Spotlight moment is finally here. May those in charge be humble enough to learn from it and change their rancid policies.

I just listened to the recorded newscast. I also was impressed with how she handled herself.

I hope, at this point, additional people will step forward. There is a history of coverup and abuse in this area--I've read other accounts of other abuses. If those other victims step forward now, there is a possibility the dam may spring more leaks and eventually crack. The church, IMHO, could use some of that happening.

They need to learn they are not above common decency.

Rob4Hope wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:38 pm It would be interesting if other victims of Bishop come forward. I'm sure this is not isolated.

Unfortunately, it's highly likely that the church has already paid other victims off to silence them.

wtfluff wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:56 pm

Rob4Hope wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:38 pm It would be interesting if other victims of Bishop come forward. I'm sure this is not isolated.

Unfortunately, it's highly likely that the church has already paid other victims off to silence them.

It appears that, at least, they paid off the other victim who came forward in 2010.

I am so happy that Denson is going for it. I support and believe her. I hope she gets a great settlement and I hope the UT news covers it all incessantly.

Was somebody typing up a transcript in real time on a typewriter? That was some weird back ground noise.

Rotund Avian wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 9:43 am One unfortunate result of the Church trying to dig up dirt on McKenna Denson, was her daughter who had been given away for adoption, finding out that McKenna was her biological mother. The lawyer for the Church who were compiling ammunition used the sealed adoption records from LDS Social Services.

While this was seemingly unethical and illegal, they might have been compelled by a court-sanctioned angel with a drawn sword who insisted they pry into the sealed adoption records because there would be hell to pay otherwise.

Here is a story in the Salt Lake Tribune about the Church opening the sealed adoption records for the purposes of using this information against McKenna. It was unfortunate the daughter got caught in the crosshairs of the unethical and illegal abuse of these sealed records by the Church.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/04 ... th-mother/

I assume it was easy for these Church lawyers to obtain these records because it was from LDS Social Services. A call from Church headquarters sufficed in place of a Judge's order, which of course would never be granted for such purposes.

moksha wrote: ↑Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:08 am Here is a story in the Salt Lake Tribune about the Church opening the sealed adoption records for the purposes of using this information against McKenna.

You do realize that by not opening a new thread, many will miss this horrendous aspect of a continued abuse of ecclesiastical power.