Son of Texas megachurch pastor ordered to pay woman he gave herpes $2.45M
Rev. Ralph West II, the son of Rev. Ralph West, founder and senior pastor of The Church Without Walls in Houston, Texas, who most recently led the Eldridge campus of his father’s megachurch, has been ordered to pay $2.45 million to a woman he knowingly infected with herpes after a jury in Harris County found him liable.
After a three-day trial, the jury unanimously found West II liable after only six hours of deliberation for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraudulent concealment of his herpes infection from his unidentified victim whom he met on Facebook and then had unprotected sex with in 2018, according to KPRC.
The $2.45 million verdict included $1.45 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in exemplary/punitive damages, according to Fox 26. The amount is said to be the largest award ever made for a case like this in Texas.
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"We truly hope this verdict sends a strong message to people throughout Texas and the United States who are infected with sexually transmitted diseases that they must disclose having the disease before engaging in sexual intercourse with any others,” Shaun Murphy, the plaintiff’s attorney and a partner at the law firm Slovak Baron Empey Murphy & Pinkney, LLP, said in a statement. “It is also important for those who have suffered harm after being infected due to another's negligent or intentional conduct to know they have a legal remedy."
It was unclear Monday whether or not Rev. Ralp West II, who has worked for more than 20 years as a preacher, remained on staff at the church.
The Church Without Walls’ staff online page is currently not displaying any results, and officials did not immediately respond to calls for comment from The Christian Post.
Four days ago, Rev. Ralph West II, was presented in a promotional video for the megachurch’s men’s fellowship.
In his statement to Fox 26, Murphy noted that the verdict was not only the largest award ever made in Texas to a victim of genital herpes infection in Texas, but it was also larger than any award ever made in California or Washington.
“I suspect there are many people who don't know that in every state in the U.S., it is unlawful for a person who knows they have a sexually transmitted disease to communicate the disease to another person through sexual contact or to even have sexual contact with another person unless they have informed their partner that they are infected with a sexually transmitted disease," Murphy explained. "In fact, it is considered fraud to knowingly endanger another person in this way, which exposes the person who transmits the STD to potential civil liability for substantial monetary damages."
The verdict against West comes nearly three years after his father cut ties with the Southern Baptist Convention over a statement from the denomination’s Council of Seminary Presidents denouncing critical race theory and intersectionality as incompatible with their beliefs.
West, who ministers to more than 24,000 families in three locations each week, made the announcement in an op-ed published in the Baptist Standard, calling on the seminary presidents to repent for bringing “division and confusion to the body of Christ” with their statement.
“The statement on critical race theory and intersectionality has soiled that good faith. I cannot maintain my affiliation any longer and therefore am withdrawing from Southwestern Seminary. Nor will I associate with the SBC any longer,” West said.
“What the SBC seminary presidents have done has brought division and confusion to the body of Christ. They must repent and seek reconciliation with those who can properly inform them of the wrong they have done. They must ask the Lord to open their hearts to hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how Jesus’ reign truly should impact our society.”
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