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Firm News
Three-Part Story By Hearst National Television Puts The Spotlight On Claims Against The Jehovah’s Witnesses
Bochetto & Lentz attorney Kiersty DeGroote was interviewed by Hearst National Television for “Silent No More: The Reckoning,” the final installment of a three-part investigation of the Jehovah’s Witness religious organization. The story focuses on allegations that the institution and its officers spent decades covering up child sexual abuse and protecting the abusers. DeGroote is representing sisters Lynn Haggan and Tarah Bird in their lawsuit against the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Societies of Pennsylvania and New York, and their father, Donald Nicolson. The sisters are accusing the organization of a “widespread and massive scheme to cover up childhood sexual abuse.” The suit was filed on August 14th, the first day that New York’s Child Victims Act went into effect. The Child Victims Act installed a one-year revival period for claims of child sexual abuse to be brought by victims against their abusers, and the institutions that allowed the abuse to go on.
Watch the three part series here:
B&L’s David Heim Fights to Keep Philly’s Oldest Charter School Open
In 2013, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission decided that the charter for the Community Academy of Philadelphia, Philadelphia’s oldest charter school, should not be renewed, citing the school’s financial and academic struggles.
Bochetto & Lentz attorney, David P. Heim, represented the school in the hearing that would ultimately decide the fate of Community Academy.
Heim argued that the school should not be compared to other Philadelphia charter schools for two reasons: the test scores of other schools in the district – which were under investigation – were inflated due to cheating, and Community Academy was more welcoming, accepting struggling students who were screened out by other charter school’s admission policies.
In 2015, the State Charter Appeal Board allowed Community Academy to renew its charter, overturning the School Reform Commission’s verdict and allowing Community Academy to stay open.
The Philadelphia Inquirer covered this story, with statements from David Heim, in the following articles:
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