Last week we told you that it had happened again, and Jane Doe #1’s real name had inadvertently been included in court documents, this time by her own attorneys. Also, for some reason when her lawyers had filed a sworn declaration written by her last week, they not only filed it a day late but they forgot to include the declaration itself.
Now that we’ve dealt with the blunders, we thought we would go back and actually look at what was in that declaration, because it seems pretty significant. And as Judge Steven Kleifield continues to mull over whether Scientology should be able to deny Danny Masterson’s accusers their right to trial, we’re interested to see if this evidence figures into his ruling.
Jane Doe #1 is one of five people suing Masterson, Scientology, and its leader David Miscavige, and one of four who was in the church herself. She alleges that Masterson violently raped her at his house after a party in April 2003. She went to the LAPD with her allegations in 2004, and then again in 2016. She’s suing Masterson and the church along with the others because they say they’ve been harassed, stalked, and libeled for taking their rape allegations to the police. (Masterson, meanwhile, is facing criminal charges and a sentence of 45 years to life in prison for raping Jane Doe #1 and two of the other women suing him.)
Scientology is trying to derail the lawsuit by using a strategy they have in other lawsuits, pointing to contracts that Jane Doe #1 and the other former Scientologists signed while they were in the church. Those contracts require a Scientologist to agree that they’ll take any grievance to an internal Scientology version of “religious arbitration” which uses a panel of three arbitrators who are members of the church in good standing. They also require the Scientologist to promise not to sue the church in a court of law.
The plaintiffs in this and other lawsuits have advanced numerous arguments to counter the contracts: That they were signed under duress, that the Scientologists who signed them were brainwashed, that they didn’t realize there was an arbitration clause in them, that the use of three arbitrators who are Scientologists makes the proceeding inherently unfair, and that forcing former Scientologists to take part in what is essentially a “religious ritual” is a violation of their First Amendment religious rights. (Judge Kleifield, meanwhile, brought up an objection of his own, that arbitration under federal law is intended for matters of interstate “commerce,” and he asked Scientology to explain how stalking and libeling former members years after they left the church could be considered a commercial transaction. Scientology doubled down and said that these were, indeed, forms of “commerce.”)
Jane Doe #1’s declaration, and the brief it was attached to, takes a very different angle: She says Scientology already gave her permission to sue Danny Masterson, and she drops a bit of a bomb on the lawsuit with a letter from Scientology’s own files.
If you remember, we explained how Jane Doe #1 (whom we have also referred to as “Victim B”), went to the church right away with allegations that Masterson had attacked her. The church reacted by subjecting her to about $15,000 of past-life counseling, intended to teach her what evil things she had done in past lives that explained why she was a victim in this lifetime. After enduring that, she still wanted to report her attack to the police, and it turns out she applied to do so with Scientology’s “International Justice Chief,” Mike Ellis.
According to her declaration, she explained to Ellis in a detailed letter what she had been put through by both Masterson and other church officials, and she explained to him that she intended to go to the police as well as file a lawsuit.
And here’s what Ellis wrote back to her:
Dear [Jane Doe #1],
Thank you for your letter. You are correct that this situation does need to be resolved for the good of all concerned.
Regarding bringing civil suit against Danny, this is something that you will have to decide for yourself after reviewing the alternatives and possible consequences carefully. If you do decide to go forward with this, you may consider that you have fulfilled your ecclesiastical obligation to inform IJC as covered in HCO PL 7 Mar 1965RB SUPPRESSIVE ACTS SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS.
Regardless of your decisions in the legal arena, you do need to apply LRH technology as the ultimate solution to any problem.
Love,
Mike Ellis
International Justice Chief
On the surface this letter appears to give Jane Doe #1 permission to sue Masterson, and that’s how her attorneys referred to it when they filed it in the lawsuit. (Sixteen years later Scientology is saying that she has no right to sue, and so this letter appears to undercut that position.)
But the real impact of the letter is so much more important, Mike Rinder tells us.
He points out that because Jane Doe brought up law enforcement and litigation, Ellis’s reply would have gone through very careful lawyering at the time.
“It is carefully worded to not specifically state ‘You cannot report this to the police,’ because this is possibly a form of obstruction of justice, and at the very least is very damaging PR-wise in Scientology’s efforts to ingratiate themselves with police forces,” he says. “And outright saying ‘you may not sue a Scientologist in good standing’ could potentially make the church a party to whatever lawsuit is filed. I am sure there is a tort that a creative lawyer could come up with to include the deep pocket of Scientology on the basis of them conspiring to prevent a lawsuit being filed by a victim.”
By referring to “possible consequences” in his letter and then referring to the “Suppressive Acts” policy, which defines “crimes” that Scientologists can be “declared” for (excommunicated), Ellis was sending a message that another Scientologist would not miss. And one of the crimes that a Scientologist can be declared for is reporting another Scientologist to the police.
“Though it is likely not obvious to a non-Scientologist, the message of this letter is crystal clear: ‘There are consequences for taking the actions you are considering. I am not going to state them because lawyers have told me not to. But you can look up the High Crimes and Suppressive Acts and figure it out for yourself.’ This is a carefully worded letter that was written by OSA legal or a lawyer for Mike Ellis to be threatening to any knowledgeable Scientologist and innocuous to a judge.
“What is most incredible is that the ‘International Justice Chief’ expresses not a word of outrage or even concern about the crime that is reported. Because that is not what he is concerned about. He is worried that this may turn into a ‘flap’ on ‘external lines’.”
In response to this filing, Scientology swatted at the IJC letter in a footnote in its Dec 11 reply:
The letter Plaintiffs cite plainly does not concern a dispute with the Church. It also does not opine on the FAA. It reflects a dispute with a fellow parishioner and illustrates Jane Doe #1’s understanding that she had obligations under the Church’s ethics and justice system in seeking resolution of disputes.
In other words, the IJC responding to Jane Doe #1 about Masterson is irrelevant to the matter of whether she has the right to sue Scientology today, the church’s attorneys say.
However, the two sides have argued back and forth about whether Masterson should be considered an “agent” of the church, and Jane Doe’s attorneys have said that Scientology has admitted as much. Scientology denies it.
Either way, will the declaration and the IJC’s letter play a part in Kleifield’s ruling? With his focus on “commerce” we tend to think it won’t.
But that doesn’t change the fact that a major bombshell has been added to the civil lawsuit which at the least should interest law enforcement looking into the connection between the Church of Scientology and the alleged crimes that Danny Masterson is facing prison time for.
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Continuing our year in review: The stories of April 2020
As April began we were still examining Scientology’s schizophrenic approach to the pandemic. On the one hand, they were putting out “sanitation teams” to make it look like they were helping, but they were also scrambling to get members to stay engaged. The results was pretty crazy.
Newly elected City Councilman Mark Bunker brought up his concerns about Sea Org members in the pandemic, but Clearwater police chief Dan Slaughter said he’d made an inspection and Scientology was following proper guidelines…
After an amended complaint was filed, Scientology’s attorneys provided new arguments for why Danny Masterson’s accusers should be forced to “religious arbitration.”
Whoopi Goldberg recommended that people facing addiction problems during the pandemic lockdown should look into Narconon.
Wealthy Scientology donor Jim Mathers offered his wisdom about the pandemic, asserting that “healthy people don’t get sick.”
One odd consequence of the lockdown was that Scientology, desperate to hang on to members stuck in their homes, began putting out things on video it would have kept under wraps before. There was a Sunday service from the New York org, for example.
And another example of strange videos coming from Scientology was a very creepy demonstration of touch assists on a female child doll. Ew.
We checked back in with L Ron 2.0 — Justin Craig — who was dealing with a revolt as even gullible indie Scientologists began to doubt his claims to be the reincarnation of Hubbard.
On April 17 we reported that the Jane Doe in Miami had filed a powerful new amended complaint in her lawsuit alleging that she had been molested as a child worker in Scientology.
Scientology was still scrambling to find a way to keep revenue coming in during the lockdown, and so we started to see more appeals to church members to do courses remotely, like this newsletter from the Dublin org urged.
It’s always fun to find evidence in Scientology’s own documents that its membership numbers only in the tens of thousands, not the millions it claims.
David Miscavige turned 60 years old, and we sent greetings from his former colleagues.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2019: Shooting victim Brian Statler was identified. Chris Owen filled us in on Scientology’s odd efforts in Papua New Guinea. Graham Berry shared another stunning demand letter with us. Sunny Perreira told us her story about Brad Pitt bringing his pet igauna to the Celebrity Centre for some auditing. Danny Masterson’s accusers and Mike Rinder’s daughter had a confrontation caught on video.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2018: Chris Owen found that L. Ron Hubbard tried to buy Malawi. Leah Remini was subjected to a Scientology “noisy investigation.” We chatted with the convicted felon who says he’s the returned L. Ron Hubbard. Tommy Davis showed up with a new look. Kim Poff was finally able to give us an interview about getting fired by Oklahoma for blowing the whistle on Narconon. Rocker Cedric Bixler-Zavala told us about the harassment his wife Chrissie Carnell Bixler was going through after coming forward as a victim of Scientologist actor Danny Masterson.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2017: Scientologist actor Erika Christensen raised eyebrows for playing a Christian convert on film. We dug up a reference to ‘Mount Xenu’ in a Hubbard lecture. Dee Findlay schooled the Clearwater city council. A 1973 documentary featuring Nan McLean resurfaced.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2016: David Miscavige was filmed opening an Ideal Org in Atlanta. Phil and Willie Jones put up a billboard in Los Angeles about Scientology disconnection. We revealed that Giovanni Ribisi’s daughter Lucia Ribisi had ditched Scientology. The Gregg Hagglund story — seeing a Fair Game operation from both ends. How David Miscavige ripped apart his own family, and how Lisa Marie Presley became (at least for a short time) his biggest nightmare. David Miscavige threatened to sue his own Dad, and we were live on the scene as Laura DeCrescenzo’s lawsuit survived a second motion for summary judgment. Was this the greatest single month for news in the history of the Bunker? It was certainly up there.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2015: We broke down the elements that made SNL’s parody, ‘Neurotology,’ so great. We brought you full audio tapes of police interviews with the Scientology private eyes who stalked Ron Miscavige. And we dug up the true history of Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2014: We checked with his tailor to find out David Miscavige’s actual height. Tax documents spelled out Scientology’s amazing cash value. And an insider provided us documents showing that Narconon Arrowhead is running on fumes.
A LOOK BACK AT APRIL 2013: Live-blogging Rock Center‘s Narconon expose, behind the scenes at Int Base with “Love in the Time of Miscavige,” and Narconon in Georgia raided.
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of April 2020
April 2: theetie weetie
Hey Scientology, in these times of uncertainty, won’t you waive your disconnection policy so those of us who have loved ones still in can check on the health and safety of friends/family members? Asking for a friend.
April 3: chukicita
I don’t think anyone who signed that agreement ever thought it would be used to poison their dogs and burn down their home without being held accountable by the law.
April 9: Sherbet
In legal matters, the church swings from yawningly unconcerned, to five-alarm fire. Bobette Riales is — ho, hum — experiencing petty inconveniences. Yet Cathy Bernardini’s accidental contact bruise “proves” Mike Rinder is — OMG! — a wife beater. The truth doesn’t even enter into the situation.
April 13: Phil Jones
Jim Mathers makes a lot of money. In Scientology that makes him an “opinion leader” (someone others listen to and value their opinion). That’s all it takes in Scientology to be an opinion leader, just money. If you have or make a lot of money your words carry more weight. Even if you inherited the money it’s still the same. No credentials or even references to proper scientific studies needed. Jim Mathers is the Jethro Bodine of current medical science in the viral/vaccination field.
April 28: Mat Pesch
Flag in Clearwater Florida brings in more money and delivers more value of Scientology services than all the rest of Scientology combined. The statistics of Scientology international exactly follows the statistics of the Flag Service Org (FSO) in Clearwater. The FSO has 28 key statistics. In 2002 I was at a meeting with the FSO divisional heads and above, that was called by the Captain FSO. On the conference room table were the 10 year graphs of all 28 statistics. They were STEEPLY down trending across the boards. I left in 2005 and things were continuing to get worse. Since then the bad press and PR of Scientology has skyrocketed. 15 years ago Miscavige thought he was untouchable and a BIG thetan. He was giving the top executives of Scientology beat downs and sending them to be imprisoned in “The Hole”. He was hanging with Cruise and thinking he was some sort of celebrity. Today Miscavige is a paranoid leader of a dying cult that is in hiding.
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“You’ll find that there’s a hollow spot in back of the body. And if you will let one of those hollow spots — at least, there’s at least one — if you’ll let it say ‘hello’ backwards, you know, have a spot in back of the body say ‘hello’ backwards, you will discover some of the more interesting spaces. You get why that is? A thetan has always come in on the body on the back, you see, and nobody has ever said ‘hello’ to him. There’s quite often a machine pulled in there, which is one of the more interesting things you run into with this process. Big, big juicy machine with valves, tubes, endless belts and every other thing.” — L. Ron Hubbard, December 24, 1954
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“There has never been any order permitting mail to be taken directly to the post office by individuals. I would like to find out who started this. It is illegal to send mail any other way than via the Dept of Comm.” — N. Jessup, CS-1, December 24, 1968
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“This Filbert guy is full of it. Royal families of England and Japan? Presidents? Come on. His data is unreliable. When he says it’s dangerous to read the OT part of his book it means nothing, he’s a nutter. Scientology hasn’t cured his nuttiness, it hasn’t de-abberrated him because the tech kinda doesn’t work. Look at Hubbard, he was abberrated. The whole religion is borderline a scam. But doing it and investigating it really is educational. It’s an epically deep rabbit hole that some never get out of. Talk about being immune to after this life implants, members can’t even be immune to present time tangible scams.”
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1996: Megan Hanson posted her recollection of time spent at Scientology’s Delphian Academy in Sheridan, Oregon. “I was at the Delphian school when I was 6 yrs old and was only there for a summer (I think?). Luckily, I was able to be with my father in his area (a cubicle with a sheet for a door) and not downstairs in what I remember to be a cold and dark cement basement area where the children going there for boarding school slept. At 6 I thought it would be neat to stay down there because it looked like caves. That was back in about 1975, and I don’t know how much the place has changed since. Back then, it was really pretty sparse and furnished with second-hand furniture. The lobby was really opulent, but everything else was so old. The water from the drinking fountains tasted absolutely horrible and stunk. But the food in the dining room was good, whole milk etc. There was also an area where the teenagers were at. A staff person once took me down there to show me what happened to kids when they didn’t follow the rules. She opened the door to a small boiler room where a kid (I assume probably about 12 – 15 yrs old) was shoveling coal into a furnace. She said he was caught smoking.”
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“‘If all Scientologists were John Travolta clones, Scientology would be a good deal.’ I’m not sure the Massage Association of America would agree with you on that one, Jimmy.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to Jan 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed for ‘Fatico’ hearing on Jan 19.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 18, re-hearing on motions to compel arbitration, awaiting a ruling; Jan 29, Masterson’s request to stay discovery pending the criminal case
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Nov 18: Feshbachs indicated they will enter into consent judgment to pay the debt.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— 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.
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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks
The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Scientology is denied an emergency hearing, but here is its ‘arbitration’ motion
[TWO years ago] We got a correspondent into Scientology’s New Year’s Event Saturday in Los Angeles
[THREE years ago] Year in review: In April, Dee Findlay delivered a truth bomb to Scientology in its spiritual mecca
[FOUR years ago] A Christmas Eve treat: Our man Down Under on Scientology’s antipodean troubles in 2016
[FIVE years ago] Release the hounds! Scientology suddenly getting more aggressive with media: Report
[SIX years ago] As Luka Magnotta is convicted, questions about his Scientology involvement remain
[SEVEN years ago] The Underground Bunker Year-in-Review starts today: A January for the ages!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s 2012 in Review: Springtime for Miscavige
[NINE years ago] Scientology Succession: Commenters of the Week!
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,160 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,664 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,184 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,204 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,095 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,402 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,270 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,044 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,848 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,164 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,730 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,649 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,817 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,398 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,659 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,697 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,410 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,935 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 290 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,465 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,016 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,165 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,485 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,340 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,459 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,815 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,118 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,224 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,626 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,498 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,081 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,576 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,830 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,939 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 24, 2020 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
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, 15 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
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
