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Church elders had assigned a man to work with Jose Lopez on bible
studies, even though they knew he had admitted to molesting another
boy in 1982, because they felt he was "repentant", Lopez's attorney
Irwin Zalkin said.
Lopez, who filed the civil suit in 2010, first went to the
Spanish-speaking Kingdom Hall church in San Diego in 1985 at the age
of seven, according to the complaint.
Mario Moreno, a lawyer for the church - whose parent group is the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York - told the San Diego
Union-Tribune newspaper that the church will appeal Superior Court
Judge Joan Lewis' judgment.
"The trial judge's decision is a drastic action for any judge to
take given the circumstances of this case," the statement in the
paper said. "Jehovah's Witnesses abhor child abuse and strive to
protect children from such acts."
The U.S.-based Jehovah's Witnesses number about 8 million worldwide
and are known for their foreign ministries as well as their
door-to-door campaigns.
(Writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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