Vol. I · Tuesday, July 14, 2026 RSS  ·  Search  ·  About

News and primary-source research on the Watchtower organization

Clergy-Penitent Privilege

Topic
LegalConfirmed

Ordered to hand over its 'known child molester' files, Watchtower settled two New York abuse suits over the same man

Illustration: a document folder with a broken seal beside scales of justice

In sister Child Victims Act cases over Robert Warne, a ministerial servant at a Middleport, N.Y. congregation, a court denied Watchtower's bid to shield its nationwide reports of known abusers and pierced clergy privilege over his confession letter — before both suits settled in 2026. The Governing Body was dismissed from one case and kept in the other.