Here we go again.
On July 31, we told you about the efforts that attorney Graham Berry and some process servers were making to serve Jane Doe 1’s new lawsuit against Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige.
When the lawsuit was unsealed in June, we learned that Jane Doe 1, one of the Danny Masterson victims, alleges that years earlier she had been subjected to sexual abuse as a minor by Sea Org recruiter Gavin Potter, and that she was then given the choice either to go into the Sea Org’s prison detail or to marry Potter. She chose the latter, but alleges that any sexual contact she had with him subsequently over the years 1991 to 1997 she considered non-consensual.
There are four defendants that are named in the case besides Potter. They are the Church of Scientology International, Bridge Publications Inc., the Religious Technology Center, and Scientology leader David Miscavige.
Our readers are familiar with how difficult Scientology makes it for Miscavige to be served any lawsuit. He was never formally named a defendant, for example, in the related lawsuit filed by the Masterson victims, which is known in court as Bixler v. Scientology. However, Miscavige was declared a defendant in a federal Tampa labor trafficking lawsuit (Baxter v. Scientology) in February when that court ruled that the Scientology leader had been intentionally evading process servers — but then that lawsuit was forced into Scientology’s “religious arbitration,” making Miscavige’s service superfluous. (That ruling is on appeal.)
At one point in 2021 Miscavige’s personal attorney, Jeffrey Riffer, mocked the efforts of the Bixler plaintiffs, who were trying to find Miscavige at what is supposed to be his office at 6331 Hollywood Boulevard, by saying that “it was public knowledge that Mr. Miscavige was thousands of miles away in Clearwater, Florida.” But then in the Baxter case, Scientology’s attorneys mocked those plaintiffs for looking for Miscavige in Florida, saying that Dave has been a resident of California for 40 years!
Well, now comes Riffer again, who this week filed a motion to quash service in the new Jane Doe 1 lawsuit, saying that her attempts at “substitute service” of Miscavige at 6331 Hollywood Blvd (and 1710 Ivar Avenue, the side entrance to the same building) are insufficient.
“Mr. Miscavige was never served with the summons and operative complaint,” Riffer writes.
Riffer is someone we’ve remarked on for years. Most recently, we learned from Yashar Ali’s reporting that it was Riffer who accompanied Shelly Miscavige when the LAPD met with her after Leah Remini filed a missing-person report in 2013.
As Riffer documents go, this latest filing is brief and lacks some of the indignation and bluster of his other efforts. But it’s still a fun read.
“Plaintiff filed a Proof of Service in this case misrepresenting that she had successfully served Mr. Miscavige. This is untrue. Effecting services requires that Mr. Miscavige be served where he lives or where he works. Mr. Miscavige has never been served in this case, neither where he lives nor where he works. Plaintiff’s process servers falsely claim that they attempted service at five different addresses. Mr. Miscavige does not live or work at any of these addresses. Nor were any papers left with a person who lives at his home or is in charge of where he works.”
When Leah Remini wanted to send cards or gifts to Shelly Miscavige, she says she was always told to use Dave and Shelly’s “official” address, which was 6331 Hollywood Blvd, the Hollywood Guaranty Building, which houses the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition on the ground floor, and up on the 11th floor contained the offices of the Religious Technology Center that Dave was the chairman of (hence his moniker in the church, C.O.B., for chairman of the board).
On July 26, Berry’s process servers left papers with Scientology employees at both entrances to the building, at 6331 Hollywood Blvd and 1710 Ivar Avenue in an attempt at “substitute service.”
But Riffer says that “Plaintiff did not make reasonably-diligent efforts to serve Mr. Miscavige personally.”
The process servers ultimately tried to serve Miscavge at five different locations, but “Mr. Miscavige does not live or work at any of these locations” Riffer says. (Of course, he makes no comment about where Miscavige does live today. Perhaps he realizes now that his snarling 2021 jab that Miscavige was actually in Florida was not the smartest move.)
A couple of the places where process servers showed up were Scientology church locations, and Riffer complained that “There are hundreds of churches and missions of Scientology in the US, each a separately incorporated religious entity, separate from RTC. Mr. Miscavige neither works at those Churches of Scientology and is not involved in ministering Scientology services at those church locations.”
We have pointed this out many times before: It’s quite obvious that Miscavige rules over the entire Scientology movement with an iron fist, but when it’s legally convenient, his attorneys portray him as an ecclesiastical figure with no connection at all to the far-flung facilities of the church.
“Plaintiff’s purported attempts to serve Mr. Miscavige at these locations served only to harass other religious adherents, and to disrupt a holiday celebration,” Riffer gripes.
And then, yes, he goes there: “Attempting to serve Mr. Miscavige at a building merely because the building houses a Church of Scientology is no different than attempting to serve the Pope at a local diocese.”
Oh, please. They love to compare Dave to the Pope, don’t they?
Multiple times, Riffer points out that two years ago, in the related Bixler case, Sea Org lifer Lynn Farney had declared under oath that Miscavige does not live at 6331 Hollywood Blvd.
Riffer also says that the two employees who encountered the process server at 6331 Hollywood Blvd and 1710 Ivar Ave either had left and didn’t see the papers dropped behind them or weren’t told they were for Miscavige. Either way, he says, it was not sufficient for substitute service.
Riffer is asking the court to consider the motion to quash in a hearing on February 15.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 6.
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Technology Cocktail
“A thetan moves from source beingness to effect beingness so therefore any time a fall is noted on an E-Meter, it can be assumed that the thetan has become an effect beingness. It is necessary to find what would create or handle the terminal that caused the fall. This is better to run than the fall terminal, even though it barely checks a rise.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1960
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON
We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.
THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?
[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH
— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see
[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf
— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond
[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner
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“There are actually hundreds of prison systems. And yet they have hung themselves with the one which they found was the least rehabilitative, the least workable and produced the most crime….I’m not even standing up for another system. Frankly, if you just erected a big stockade someplace or another and told the fellows to go in there for a while, and we didn’t care who they took with us, we’d probably, you know, have a better system. If the Scientologist were to go about this — I already figured this out for the federal prisons of the United States. The head of all federal prisons in the United States has required Dianetics to be read, by the way, by all his wardens. And I worked out a system for him. Too much work for me to put into effect and so never went into effect. We are not without friends or connections or influence, in spite of the fact that some two-bit-some drug addicts, the Federal Drug Addicts, are after us, because they’re actually not under the government, they’re under the AMA.” — L. Ron Hubbard, September 3, 1963
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“COMMEND: The Qual Div and Quentin as Auditor and R. Lindsell are commended for the work on an Aides Auditing Project. This project series was very well done and entirely flubless as is usual with Quentin’s auditing. Liese and Tommy both did one each of the project and these were also very well done. Qual is very upstat.” — The Commodore, September 3, 1970
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“There are people who are more ‘hatted’ than me. However, I do not see them having as much Purpose as I have. Secondly, they are not LRH so they do not know neither apply Scientology 100 percent. Still, if anything moves they are the first to USE POLICY TO STOP. They cannot even see that all those years all they should be doing is Hat, Hat, Hat… But no, they know better. Those who postulated 100 percent policy are still postulating and DO less than they could. A team with any policy is better than a team with NO policy even if it’s the ALL STARS playing. You know that. Or if you don’t know read Org Board and Livingness.”
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2001: Excerpts from the latest Freewinds Magazine were posted to a.r.s this week, with a summary of events at an OT summit. “ED INT, Guillaume Lesevre gave the stats for the past year. Nearly 8,000 new people taking their first step on The Bridge. 240 million people reached through radio, TV, print media and dissemination programs. 824,000 people introduced to LRH tech – highest ever. A cumulative total of 3000 events and seminars held which contributed to helping more than 10,000 Scientologists on to their next step on The Bridge. The number of Clears
taking their next take on The Bridge increased by nearly 5 times — highest in history. OT Ambassadors receive OT Achievement Awards. This years Awardees are: Wendy Ettricks and Joanne Schnitzer both from LA, as a team put 250 Scientologists on to their next service. That’s more than 40 Clears and 200 + pre OT’s. Sheila Atkinson-Baker and Claire Taylor, both from LA, have 1800 people currently auditing on New OT 7 in the LA area. Sandy Adair, assisted 130 Clears in enrolling on their Solo training and another 150 to start their next step on The Bridge and another 94 Scio’s to arrive on the Freewinds. All told, she single-handedly got 1059 people onto services in orgs. Senior C/S Int, Ray Mithoff presented a new OT hatting course entitled
‘The Command of Theta: This course includes tapes from a Nov. 1952 lecture series given by LRH to the London Professional Course. WDC Chairman, Marc Yager announced the newest org to achieve the size of Old Saint Hill is ASHO FND. The first Foundation Org to achieve this. And with ASHO FND now being Saint Hill size, we now have every Sea Org service org to the size of Old Saint Hill.”
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“Owls get spontaneous spasmodic upvotes from me, always.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Found guilty on two counts on May 31, remanded to custody. Sentencing on Sep 7.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Trial scheduled for August 15.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.
Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Complaint filed August 2, first hearing set for Dec 4.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration. Plaintiffs allowed interlocutory appeal to Eleventh Circuit.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place at least through sentencing of Masterson on Sep 7. Next hearing set for Sept 26.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Next hearing Nov 6.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Ordered to mediation.
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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 BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. 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
[TWO years ago] VIDEO: Scientology prepares Chicago takeover, will target college student dorms downtown
[THREE years ago] After arrest, Scientologist chiro Dennis Nobbe in even more trouble for contacting witnesses
[FOUR years ago] The donors keeping Scientology afloat in 2019: Today, part one, the lesser whales
[FIVE years ago] Scientology rehabs are hiring — if you don’t care about money or a decent place to live
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s slick (and bogus) drug education program snares another school district
[SEVEN years ago] Dan Koon, co-writer of Scientology tell-all ‘Ruthless,’ on his days with L. Ron Hubbard
[EIGHT years ago] It’s a video extravaganza as three former members tell us about life inside Scientology
[NINE years ago] Nancy Cartwright puts out the creepiest Scientology advertisement of all time
[TEN years ago] Making the Grade: Scientology Prepares Us for the Future
[TWELVE years ago] Ex-Scientology Executive Marty Rathbun Headed to Germany This 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 3,141 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,656 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,206 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,196 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,077 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,381 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,252 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 2,357 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,804 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,146 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,712 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,631 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,798 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,380 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,641 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,677 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,393 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,957 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,272 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,447 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,998 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,129 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,467 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,322 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,441 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,797 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 7,100 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,206 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,604 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,480 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,045 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,558 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,812 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,921 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 3, 2023 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, 1995-2022 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2022), 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
Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
