Scientology takes aim at Mike Rinder and Hana Whitfield in the Valerie Haney lawsuit

 
Last week we reported that Scientology’s attorneys are asking for $160,000 in sanctions because that’s how much they charged their clients to deal with Valerie Haney’s attempt at a do-over in her lawsuit against the church and its leader, David Miscavige.

And what did the Church of Scientology get for such a princely sum of fancy lawyering? Well, now we know, because we got our hands on the church’s opposition to Valerie’s motion, written by Church of Scientology International lawyer William Forman and Religious Technology Center attorney Matthew Hinks.

And as a bonus, the two also took aim at former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder and former Deputy Commodore Hana Whitfield, who had both submitted affidavits supporting Valerie’s motion for reconsideration.

Wow, there’s so much outrage here, it could fuel half the freight trains on Venus.

Here’s our best attempt to bring you up to speed and explain what’s being hashed out in these angry documents: Valerie Haney escaped from her Sea Org position at Scientology’s secretive Gold Base by hiding out in the trunk of a car. When she later told her story on the premiere episode of the third and final season of A&E’s Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, we learned that she was now working as Leah’s assistant, and also that Scientology had begun its very familiar habit of creeping out a former member with surveillance and intimidation. Valerie filed her lawsuit in June 2019, alleging that while she worked at the Gold Base she had been held against her will (kidnapping), and that since coming forward she had been subjected to slander, libel, and stalking.

Scientology countered that Valerie had signed a separation agreement with the church and, besides receiving $4,500 from the church, she promised in the document that she would not sue the church but would take any dispute to Scientology’s internal “religious arbitration.” The church convinced Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge Jr that the agreement was binding, even though many of the things Valerie was suing over — the online smears and intimidation by private investigators — had occurred after she left the church.

After Burdge’s January 30 decision to grant Scientology’s motion, which stayed the lawsuit, Valerie filed a motion for reconsideration, which is schedule to be heard August 11.

We pointed out that winning motions of reconsideration, while rare, can be accomplished by showing a judge new information that he didn’t get a chance to consider when he made his original ruling. And in this case, Valerie says she has just that: Evidence that a week before she signed the agreement with the church, she had actually already been fired. And also, that Judge Burdge, based on what he said at the January 30 hearing, didn’t understand that Scientology’s “arbitration” is nothing like what the rest of the world considers “arbitration” to be. And that’s where Rinder and Whitfield came in, telling the judge that Scientology actually modeled its arbitration on a religious star chamber called a “committee of evidence,” and that there was no impartiality and no way that Valerie could receive anything like justice before such a thing.

So now Scientology has come back arguing that this is not new evidence, that Valerie’s attorneys should have made this argument at the January 30 hearing and Scientology should not have to pay for that mistake.

And the church attorneys also go after Rinder and Whitfield with the usual complaints that they have been out of Scientology too long, etc.

But we did find it pretty entertaining that Forman and Hinks thought it might be a good idea to try and get Judge Burdge’s dander up by pointing out that Rinder, at his blog, had showed nothing but disdain for what the judge had ruled on January 30…

 
You can just see Forman and Hinks running to Judge Burdge with smelling salts: “Can you believe what he said about you, judge?”

Well, as usual Scientology’s court documents are filled with moral outrage and expressions of pious indignation. We look forward to your observations about them…

 
The opposition to Valerie’s motion…

Haney v. Scientology: Oppos… by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
The opposition to Mike Rinder’s declaration…

Haney v. Scientology: Oppos… by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
The opposition to Hana Whitfield’s declaration…

Haney v. Scientology: Oppos… by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Hawaii…

 
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Source Code

“If you really know your E-Meters, go down to your local hometown detective bureau and ask to talk to the lie detector expert and talk to him for a few minutes and he starts giving you some wise, professional chitterchat. Why, you just tell him you’re a psychologist — he understands that, the man has a limited vocabulary, usually — and tell him you use these things all the time in your practice and so forth, and you’d just like to look over his setup. Well, these guys are all bugs and they will show you their setup with their blood pressure gauge and their respirators and the little meter with the cans, you know, except they don’t put them on properly and they don’t register quite right. Now, you can take the same rig and you can so baffle and astound this man, so he just practically blows his brains out. He says, ‘What have I been doing all this time!’ and so on. You can show him a murder reaction on every cop in the place. You don’t say, ‘Have you committed the murder?’ You say, ‘Have you ever killed anyone?’ And promptly, you get duhduh and the respirator goes bluh, the blood pressure indicator goes blah. You could be very cruel and simply say to the lie detector operator, ‘Obviously, your machine is out of order.’ That’s what he’ll think. He’ll have a letter off right away to the manufacturers.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 31, 1958

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“His life consisted of only a few things. He did not work. He listened to these tapes. He solo audited himself endlessly on GPMs and line plots. A VERY bad idea. He drank heavily every night. He had bad hangovers almost every day and took tons of pain killers. What money he did have he spent on prostitutes and alcohol. He was sick, and his teeth were rotting in his mouth to the point where my PCs could not be in the same car with him because the stench was so bad. He was an apathy case that had been doing himself in for many years and he finally killed himself. A very sad story.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Hubbard should have just cut to the chase and told the clams that he had discovered that all money was infested with body thetans and that they needed to bring their filthy lucre in to Flag to be audited. He could have called it ‘The Wallet of Fire’.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Arraignment scheduled for September 18.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing is set for August 27 in White Plains, NY
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments set for August 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for August 11
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Sept 4 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
— 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, trial set for Nov 9, 2021

 
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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] ‘Strange Angel’ goes there, teases Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard at season end
[TWO years ago] Scientology spilling the secrets of the universe on an LA street!
[THREE years ago] Phil and Willie Jones versus Scientology: The real story of how the billboard came to be
[FOUR years ago] Harlem gets its Scientology ‘Ideal Org’ today, and David Miscavige doesn’t want you there
[FIVE years ago] Fresh DOX: Police calls to the Narconon in Fort Collins, Colorado — unedited and unread!
[SIX years ago] Jon Atack: Did L. Ron Hubbard want to be considered a god?
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology Admits Connection to Slimy Anonymous Attack Sites — Again
[NINE years ago] Scientology Spinout: Commenters of the Week!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 31, 2020 at 07:00

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The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 14 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

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