We told you on Tuesday that court records reflect that “substitute service” was made on Scientology leader David Miscavige in a couple of lawsuits brought by his former steward, Valerie Haney, and four women who are suing Scientologist actor Danny Masterson, alleging that he violently raped them.
According to those documents, Miscavige was served as an officer of several different Scientology entities which are defendants in the lawsuits, including the Church of Scientology International and the Religious Technology Center.
Well, new documents show that substitute service was also made on Miscavige personally as a defendant in both lawsuits. (“Substitute service” meaning that court papers weren’t personally handed to Miscavige, but they were handed to someone the court will consider a representative of him.)
The new documents also claim that substitute service was attempted on Danny Masterson himself. But looking at those documents closely, we think there might be an issue with the way Masterson was served.
The process server reported to court that he served Masterson, the actor, as if he were an employee of the Church of Scientology at its Hollywood Guaranty Building address, which is 6331 Hollywood Boulevard.
But is Masterson an employee of the church? He’s appeared at various Scientology events as a church celebrity, and perhaps that’s a good enough connection for the service to stick. But we have a feeling Masterson’s attorneys will make an issue of it.
We salute the process server’s dogged attempts to serve Masterson at the HGB, but we don’t know whether it will stick.
And anyway, we gave this legal team a really good idea of where they could find Masterson in the flesh just a few days ago.
We’ll try to get some answers about how soon we can expect responses to the court from both Masterson and Miscavige.
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L. Ron Hubbard Way party: An eyewitness report
Once again we had a correspondent at the latest Scientology TV ‘season premiere’ event in Los Angeles on L. Ron Hubbard Way. Here’s our correspondent’s report…
As with prior Scientology TV Premiere Events, L. Ron Hubbard Way was entirely blocked off from Fountain to Sunset. There was a spotlight machine at the corner of LRH Way and Sunset with four moving beams shining into sky. (Think of an old-fashioned Hollywood premiere.) There was live music — very good jazz; the group was tight. There was some free food. The stage and projection TV screen were placed with their backs parallel to Fountain Avenue and spanned the width of LRH Way. There were multiple rows of seats facing the large TV screen on LRH Way. There were several medium sized screens spaced on the left side of the street for people sitting nearer to the back. The food tables, kiosks and displays on LRH Way were behind the seating.
As with prior Scientology TV Premiere Events, there was absolutely no regging. Unlike every Scientology event I have ever attended in the past, there was no survey or questionnaire to fill out and turn in after the event.
The event started at 6:00 p.m., with Scientology TV starting at 8:00 p.m. and running until 11:00 p.m.
The event was well-attended and the seating was almost entirely full. However, it appeared that roughly half of the seating was filled with Sea Org members. I didn’t see Joy Villa, Minister Tony Muhammad, or any members of the Nation of Islam. Many public left as the evening progressed. By 11:00 p.m., it appeared the vast majority of the remaining people were Sea Org.
All of the old Scientology TV series are continuing, if there was any doubt. Two new upcoming but currently unscheduled series were announced. The first is “Freedom Magazine Articles.” The second is “Signature Performances.” The first episode of “Signature Performances” will be about Chick Corea.
There is also going to be a new CCHR Documentary about ECT called “Therapy or Torture.”
The crowd was not nearly enthusiastic as it was in the past, and especially not when compared to season one. People attending the Season One Event were sincerely and greatly enthusiastic, clapping, cheering and yelling. They really thought that it was this, Scientology TV, that would make the difference. There is none of that now. The Scientology TV Premiere events are now routine. My prediction is that they will always hold an event for the premiere of each new season — the precedent has been set — and people will increasingly go to them out of sense of obligation.
It was odd for this ex-Scientologist, and perhaps for some Scientologists in the audience, to hear a Sea Org member in the “Inside Scientology” Saint Hill episode talk about the importance of the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course knowing that the course hasn’t been offered in years and may never be offered again.
The shows we watched at the event:
8:00 p.m.: “Inside Scientology,” about Saint Hill. Significantly, the last roughly fifteen minutes of the show were about Saint Hill’s purely charitable efforts raising money and providing volunteers for local charities. They presented testimonials from many East Grinstead Councilors and the heads of a number of local charities (e.g., air ambulance, railway museum, sports club). Being an hour long the show dragged unless one was really interested in East Grinstead and Scientology history, but was saved by the ending.
9:00 p.m.: “Meet a Scientologist,” featuring Tom Rigdon, who owns a stained glass business. This episode didn’t drag and was effective. Rigdon came across as a normal guy who saved a floundering stained glass business, made it prosper, and does good artistic work. I noticed that one of his employees who was interviewed was wearing a Clear bracelet.
9:30 p.m.: “Destination Scientology,” about the Church of Scientology of Mexico City. The episode had a strong ending about the aid the Church of Scientology and Volunteer Ministers provided in Mexico City during the 2017 earthquake. The head of Los Topos was featured. This was another episode that dragged but was saved by the ending.
10:00 p.m.: “Voices for Humanity,” featuring David Sanchez of Strike Out Against Drugs in Los Angeles. Sanchez distributes materials provided by Foundation for a Drug Free World. Sanchez also runs the Beacon of Hope sober living facility in LA. Sanchez came across as a well-intentioned guy who turned his life around after twenty-two years in prison and wants to help keep kids off of drugs. This was another episode that didn’t drag and was effective.
10:30 p.m.: “I Am A Scientologist,” which featured multiple quick, short introductions to Scienotologists all over the world. As before, I found this show to be really ineffective. The introductions are too short to have any impact. They were counter-productive and served only to make Scientology look superficial.
As noted, the two new series and the new CCHR documentary are not scheduled yet.
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Ah, Denver. The memories!
Chris Shelton has been posting shorter “Critical Clips” from some of his past videos. He let us know that he just posted this one, from a fun talk we had with him on our book tour in Denver in 2015…
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Source Code
“At any given time on the track an individual is a member of two or three groups at the same time. Member of the family, he’s a member of the society, he’s a member of the business he’s connected with. I mean anything like that, you know? Even if he’s a bum, he’s a member of a group called bums. He’s at least two or three groups, you see? All right. Now, how long has he been on the track? About two hundred trillion. And I’d say that it was about three groups every twenty-five years would be the most conservative underestimate of the situation. So that is something on the order of twelve groups a century times two hundred trillion less one hundred, you see? Less two cycles. So, it’s two trillion times twelve, or twenty-four trillion, and you would have to do this twenty-four trillion times. Now, how long are you going to live? Could you afford the number of E-Meters that you were going to wear out during this period?” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 24, 1961
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Overheard in the FreeZone
“What kinds of ‘dark’ things did Ron do in his past? I don’t really want to know. I’m a lot more interested in all the stuff Ron wrote about and spoke of which has to do with Scientology. And for which I’m endlessly grateful.”
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Random Howdy
“The statistical fact that the vast majority of people who tried Scientology walked away from it almost immediately belies this idea that it’s a world class predatory system. A five percent success rate at hooking sucker fish is not impressive.”
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!
We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.
Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!
Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!
Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Phil Jones: How Scientology sucked me in — even as National Lampoon warned me
[TWO years ago] Tonight on ‘Leah Remini’: The business of Scientology, and the pitfalls of suing it
[THREE years ago] Kathy Slevin, sister who attacked Paul Haggis on behalf of Scientology, dies at 60
[FOUR years ago] From our man in Europe: Details on the Dutch denial of tax exemption to Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Scientology got another legal spanking in France months ago and we’re just now finding out
[SIX years ago] Jefferson Hawkins on Scientology Ethics: Let’s Get Utilitarian!
[SEVEN years ago] It’s Official: Tommy Davis No Longer a Scientology Spokesman
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s South Park Investigation: Orders to Send in a Young Mole
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Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,607 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 1,736 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,240 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 1,760 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 780 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 671 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 3,978 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,846 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,620 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,394 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,740 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,306 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,225 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,393 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,974 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,235 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,274 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,986 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,512 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,038 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,601 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,741 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,061 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,917 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,036 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,391 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,694 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,800 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,202 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,074 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,657 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,152 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,406 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,515 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 24, 2019 at 07:00
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