$40 Million Verdict for Childhood Abuse Survivor in Jehovah's Witnesses Elder Case
Won by Davis Levin Livingston.
A Hawaii circuit court awarded $40 million to a survivor who was raped and sexually assaulted by a Jehovah's Witnesses elder at the Makaha congregation when she was 12 years old.
What happened
In 1992, a 12-year-old girl identified in court records only as N.D. was raped and repeatedly sexually assaulted by Kenneth L. Apana, an elder at the Makaha congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses on Oahu. The assaults occurred during sleepovers at Apana's home and took place roughly 30 times over the course of that year. Apana was 78 years old at the time of the verdict.
Apana had served in a position of trust within the congregation for decades. Court findings established that he sexually molested four girls over a 23-year span from 1988 to 2011. After internal complaints surfaced, congregation elders disfellowshipped him for one year but, according to the court record, discouraged reporting the abuse to police. He was eventually reinstated after being required to apologize to the victim. No criminal charges were ever filed.
N.D. filed a civil lawsuit in 2020 naming Apana and the Makaha congregation, along with affiliated Jehovah's Witnesses entities. The liability claims were resolved through a confidential settlement, and the case then proceeded to a damages trial against Apana alone, who had admitted to the abuse.
Mark Davis of Davis Levin Livingston, together with co-counsel James Rogers, presented the damages case before Circuit Court Judge Dean Ochiai. The evidence showed that the abuse caused lasting psychological harm. The court found that N.D. continues to struggle with trust and relationships, and that the trauma has affected both her professional and personal life over the decades since.
On July 18, 2023, Judge Ochiai entered judgment totaling $40 million: $15 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. No subsequent appeal or reduction of the judgment has been reported.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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