Leah Remini and Tommy Davis will give depositions in Monique Rathbun’s harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology after Monique’s attorney, Ray Jeffrey, successfully convinced Comal County Judge Dib Waldrip this afternoon to allow their testimony.
Jeffrey had subpoenaed Tommy Davis more than a week ago, and had also announced his intention to depose Remini in this initial part of the lawsuit, which has to do with jurisdiction over Scientology leader David Miscavige.
Scientology had moved quickly to quash both subpoenas (Remini’s has not even been served), but Judge Waldrip, in a court appearance today, worked out a new schedule in the lawsuit that will allow Jeffrey time to subpoena and depose both the King of Queens actress and the former Scientology spokesman.
Jeffrey had initially scheduled to depose Tommy Davis in Austin on October 14, Leah Remini in Los Angeles on October 15, and a representative of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office on October 16, all just days before the next hearing in the case, which was scheduled in Comal County courthouse on October 18. Now, that schedule has been moved back.
The hearing on jurisdiction over David Miscavige has been moved to December 11. In the meantime, the two sides will draw up a protective order for information that will be gleaned in the depositions, and then Tommy Davis and Leah Remini will be deposed when some new dates can be worked out. (The protective order will allow Scientology to ask that certain things Davis and Remini say will be kept under seal, but Jeffrey will be able to appeal to Waldrip to keep them public.)
Scientology indicated in the hearing that it plans to depose three rebuttal witnesses to Leah Remini’s testimony, but didn’t identify those three witnesses.
Also, defendant Monty Drake, a Dallas private investigator, filed his answer to Monique Rathbun’s complaint, and asked for a transfer of the lawsuit to another county. When we have more information on that, we’ll post it.
We should have video from today’s hearing posted soon.
UPDATE: And here’s video from Michael Bennitt, who attended today’s hearing…
A couple of notes after watching the video. At one point, the attorney for Steven Gregory Sloat stands up to complain about how he’s in trial or something and what an inconvenience this all is. But Ray Jeffrey then objects in an interesting way, suggesting that all of the many attorneys on the defendants’ side are all being paid by one source — the Church of Scientology — and none of them objects to that characterization.
Judge Waldrip himself seemed to be losing patience with the same thing, noting that scheduling is a nightmare when you need to set up a hearing and you’re “waiting to hear back from lawyer number eighteen…”
Also, at the end of the hearing, CSI attorney Les Strieber seems to suggest that the Leah Remini and Riverside County Sheriff’s office subpoenas are being quashed, and Jeffrey then says they’re being withdrawn, but we think each of them are just going to be rescheduled. We’re checking on that.
After we called Ray Jeffrey, he confirmed that all three of the depositions — Remini, Davis, and the sheriff’s office in California — are on: “The depositions are not cancelled, they’re rescheduled to fit everyone’s schedules.”
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Lori Hodgson and the Sea Org Recruiters
Another disturbing chapter in Lori’s saga, brought to you by Karen de la Carriere, J. Swift, and Angry Gay Pope.
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Tory Christman on Media Mayhem
Allison Hope Weiner interviews Tory Christman, whose story we know really well…
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 8, 2013 at 17:40
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