Danny Masterson: Drop me from Scientology lawsuit if the ‘Jane Does’ won’t name themselves

In February Scientologist celebrity Danny Masterson responded to a lawsuit by saying the four women (and one man) suing him were merely seeking publicity and money. Since then, the five plaintiffs filed a new amended complaint which reset the case’s legal clock, and now the That ’70s Show actor has filed another response.

This time, he’s emphasizing in even stronger terms his gripe that two of the women suing him are not revealing their true names, and for that reason and others Masterson says he should be dropped from the lawsuit. We have the full document for you below.

Chrissie Carnell Bixler, Bobette Riales, and two women going by the names Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 came forward to the Los Angeles Police Department more than three years ago with allegations that they had been violently raped by Masterson in incidents between 2001 and 2004. The LAPD investigation of those allegations continues, and in recent months we’ve reported that three additional women have come forward to the police. The LAPD initially forwarded its findings to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office in April 2017 for prosecution, but DA Jackie Lacey (now facing a November run-off election seeking her third term) has still not said anything about whether she plans to file charges.

Last August, the four women and Carnell Bixler’s husband, rocker Cedric Bixler-Zavala, filed their lawsuit over what they claim was the intense Scientology “Fair Game” harassment campaign they’d been subjected to because they had come forward to the police. So while they continue to wait for the criminal investigation to come up with rape charges, they are suing over the harassment they say they’ve been put through in a coordinated effort by Scientology, its leader David Miscavige, and Masterson.

Scientology responded to the lawsuit in a number of ways, and one of them was to file motions to compel the four of the five plaintiffs who had been former Scientologists — all but Riales — to submit to “religious arbitration,” which would derail the lawsuit. Scientology claims that as church members, the three women and Bixler-Zavala signed binding agreements promising to take any grievances to arbitration rather than suing the church in court.

Masterson, however, can’t join in the call for arbitration because the plaintiffs didn’t sign contracts with him. So he has responded with what’s called a “demurrer,” a kind of legalistic answer.

And once again, things open with some sneering language from Masterson’s attorney, Andrew Brettler…

Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint (the “Complaint”), their second attempt to rope Danny Masterson into this bogus lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, fares no better than the first. Unfortunately, while the world has stopped to contain the spread of coronavirus, Plaintiffs plow ahead with their specious, unsupported and half-baked claims, wasting valuable judicial resources in a shameful ploy for salacious media attention. This lawsuit is nothing more than a publicity stunt orchestrated by Mr. Masterson’s ex-girlfriends, some of whom seek to proceed anonymously, while very publicly accusing Mr. Masterson and other named defendants of wrongdoing.

We’re not sure, is Danny here suggesting that the women who say they were raped by him should give up their lawsuit because of the pandemic rather than “plow ahead”? For heaven’s sake, what does the coronavirus have to do with it?

Anyway, as we pointed out last time, Masterson continues to accuse the four women of being bitter ex-girlfriends. We have pointed out numerous times that although two of the victims had been in relationships with him at the time, Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 were not girlfriends and had not been dating him. Jane Doe 1 alleges that she was raped at Masterson’s house during a party, and Jane Doe 2 alleges that she was raped when she made her first ever visit to his house.

In what might be a bizarre response to our continuing to point that out, this new demurrer now has a new way of referring to Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2…

Plaintiffs Chrissie Carnell Bixler, her husband Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Marie Bobette Riales, and two of Mr. Masterson’s old flames, who now seek to hide behind a cloak of anonymity, have very publicly accused Mr. Masterson of unthinkable crimes despite that fact that their allegations were thoroughly investigated and rejected years ago.

Emphasis ours. (Added note: We’re seeing some confusion in the comments. Of course Masterson and his attorneys know who Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 are. What he’s arguing is that he wants them to name themselves publicly.)

As for claims being “investigated and rejected years ago,” Jane Doe 1 did go to the LAPD in 2004, just a year after her incident, and that investigation was closed under extremely questionable circumstances. Scientology flooded the police with affidavits calling Jane Doe 1 a liar, and she was told at the time by the police that they were closing the investigation because they couldn’t find other victims (at that time, she didn’t know about Carnell Bixler’s allegations, or the other women). And when the LAPD reopened this case in 2016, they found that reports from it were inexplicably missing.

So no, with the LAPD probe ongoing, the allegations by none of the four women have been “thoroughly investigated and rejected.”

Other choice passages from the demurrer…

The Jane Doe plaintiffs want to use fake names in this lawsuit to avoid public scrutiny of their claims and prevent others from questioning their allegations and/or speaking out against them personally. Mr. Masterson and the other defendants have a right to confront their accusers, and if these anonymous plaintiffs want to use the public courts to try to get money from Mr. Masterson and the other defendants, they need to play by the rules and sue in their real names.

In what can only be characterized as paranoid delusions, Mr. Masterson’s ex-girlfriends and one of their jealous husbands banded together to concoct these preposterous and bigoted allegations aimed largely against the Church of Scientology and its related entities. Plaintiffs added Mr. Masterson as a defendant in this discriminatory lawsuit to insure that the media would cover it. For that reason, Plaintiffs needlessly, but intentionally and in salacious detail, rehash their decades-old false and defamatory allegations against Mr. Masterson – none of which have anything to do with the causes of action actually asserted in this action.

Their stories, however, have morphed into fairytales demonstrating their religious intolerance and prejudice. Recognizing that their original claims arising out of their prior, consensual relationships with Mr. Masterson are not only time-barred under the law but also entirely meritless, they turned this case into one about alleged stalking and harassment. Plaintiffs have seemingly convinced themselves that every day inconveniences that are commonplace in all large cities, such as having their trashcans go missing, finding their car doors unlocked, or the death of a pet are part of a large conspiracy against them by the Church of Scientology at the direction of one of their parishioners. Lawsuits do not get much more far-fetched, or anti-religious than this one.

Masterson argues that the lawsuit doesn’t connect him with any of the harassment the victims say they’ve been experiencing, and also that they are suing jointly when their allegations aren’t related…

But the Complaint’s lack of supporting facts and law is not even its biggest defect. The lawsuit is a mishmash of bigotry and allegations asserted by various individuals who have very little in common with one another and do not belong in the same case together. The individual claims are premised on entirely distinct and separate acts – allegedly occurring at different times and in different locations. Because the claims do not arise from the same transaction or series of events, they cannot be pleaded jointly. As a result of this improper joinder, the Complaint cannot be cured by amendment and must be dismissed with prejudice.

In a later section, Brettler makes his argument for why the Jane Does shouldn’t be able to sue anonymously, and he suggests that one of them should forfeit that right because she personally attended two of the court hearings in the case.

These were public hearings, and these women have a lot at stake in them — they’ve been waiting for years for justice. We can understand why they might want to attend a court hearing as their fates are being discussed. But Masterson’s attorney seizes on this as a reason why the women should have to name themselves.

It’s a bullying tactic.

Masterson’s full demurrer is below, and we’re interested in your thoughts on it. On August 31 and September 1, the demurrers by Masterson and by Scientology (against Riales, not the other defendants) are scheduled to be heard.

Tomorrow, we’ll be taking a look at another document Masterson recently filed, asking for certain things to be stricken from the lawsuit. Which items he chose is interesting, and so are those things he didn’t ask to strike.

Bixler v. Scientology: Dann… by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
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Source Code

“Every physicist, every single physicist, including Newton, and all the rest of the boys, have fallen flat on their faces by not establishing the basic conditions of what they were dealing with. They have started from an unreasonable assumption. They’ve assumed that somebody knew what space was, and have gone on from there. And they’ve decided that somebody knew what a static was, and they’ve gone on from there. And of course they’d wind us up in trouble sooner or later with a thing like an atom bomb. Naturally, they’d wind us up in trouble because they didn’t know where they were proceeding. This is not an indictment, you understand, of science at large. It’s just hoping it will perish soon. Because if this is the scientific method, to start with unreasonable assumptions and never discover what your definitions are before you proceed into a problem, then we want nothing to do with a scientific method. And you actually are then not following the scientific method, because that is the scientific method. You’re really not dealing, then, in the field of science if the field of science is what we have had in psychology and physics. Because then we are not dealing with this. Because we do this, and there are a new set of principles established here. And the only thing you could call them, I guess, would be a Scientological method, as unhandy as Scientology becomes when you start to add suffixes to it.” — L. Ron Hubbard, May 4, 1954

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Weird little wins with new found abilities. Today I wondered what it felt like to be a cloud, so I did.”

 
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Random Howdy

“People keep calling for the government to do something about Scientology. I just hope none of those people are the same people calling for a lot less government, because that would be kind of hypocritical, don’t you think? And I’ll leave it at that.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Jay Spina: Sentencing was set for April 3 in White Plains
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members: Trial set for October 7 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Waiting for an appellate decision from the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for June 17
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: July 8 (plaintiff attorneys pro hac vice), August 31-Sept 1 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe’s attorneys have asked for discovery, depositions (Warren McShane, Lynn Farny), amended complaint filed
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were heard on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Amended complaint filed.

 
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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] Scientology measles ship back in Curaçao, which talks tough about quarantine
[TWO years ago] Federal judge smacks down Scientology’s shameless attempt to delay forced-abortion case
[THREE years ago] Forced abortions, beatings, and sleep deprivation: The FBI on Scientology’s Sea Org
[FOUR years ago] Scientology confirms it won’t oppose Monique Rathbun’s plans to ditch lawsuit
[FIVE years ago] More from a secretly-recorded executive griping about Scientology’s sad state of affairs
[SIX years ago] Sunday Funnies: Scientology says, May the Fourth be with you
[SEVEN years ago] SCIENTOLOGY TO CALIFORNIA SUPREMES: State’s Priest-Penitent Law is Unconstitutional
[EIGHT years ago] Amanda Palmer Loved Kate Bornstein’s Memoir So Much, She Crashed the Book Party

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on May 4, 2020 at 07:00

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