VERMONT
Brattleboro Reformer
By Robert Audette
raudette@reformer.com @audette.reformer on Twitter
POSTED: 08/11/2016
BELLOWS FALLS — Attorneys for the Bellows Falls Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses are asking the United States District Court for the District of Vermont to dismiss a lawsuit alleging a congregation member committed sexual abuse 25 years ago.
The lawsuit, filed by Annessa Lewis, names congregation member Norton True and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York as co-defendants in the suit. The attorneys are asking that the congregation and Watchtower be dismissed from the suit. They do not represent True.
The abuse is alleged to have occurred in the early 1990s at True’s home in Rockingham, while his adult daughter was babysitting Lewis, who is now 29 and lives in Texas. True’s daughter was a friend of Lewis’ mother.
“To be clear, the (Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower) do not concede that there was an incident of abuse,” wrote attorneys from Downs Rachlin and Martin, which is representing the congregation and Watchtower.
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