1-0 DB Doe v Watchtower - Complaint

June 16th, 2026

Summary of Complaint:

D.B. Doe v. Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, et al.

In this lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court, Kings County, a woman identified as D.B. Doe alleges that she was repeatedly sexually abused as a child by Preston Green, a Jehovah’s Witness elder, beginning around 1985 when she was five years old. According to the complaint, the abuse occurred over several years at the plaintiff’s home, the elder’s home, and on multiple visits to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ former world headquarters (Bethel) in Brooklyn, where Green allegedly brought her without her parents.

The complaint names the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (CCJW), and numerous unidentified defendants. It alleges these entities exercised authority over local elders, knew or should have known of the risk of child sexual abuse within the organization, and failed to implement reasonable safeguards, supervision, reporting procedures, and training to protect children. The complaint further alleges that when the plaintiff disclosed the abuse to congregation elders during the process of becoming baptized, she was instructed not to tell anyone.

The lawsuit is brought under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, relying on the statute’s revival provisions for previously time-barred claims. It also asserts claims for negligent supervision, negligent hiring and retention, negligent failure to warn and educate, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sexual abuse and battery. The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, costs, and any additional relief the court deems appropriate.