Jane Doe 1 denies validity of arbitration contract, opposes Scientology stay request

 
Jane Doe 1’s lawsuit against Scientology, unsealed in June, contains some horrendous allegations of sexual abuse of a minor and forced marriage, but once again, Scientology has pulled out its favorite legal strategy and is trying to derail the lawsuit in favor of “religious arbitration.”

We told you on September 22 that Scientology had not only asked the court to force the case into arbitration, but also to put the lawsuit on hold until next May when the matter can be decided.

Now, Jane Doe 1 has come firing back, saying it’s ridiculous to put the case on ice that long, and she goes into great length about why the contract she signed in 2002 should be considered invalid.

For one thing, she says, her signature might be on it, but no one from Scientology ever added their signatures.

But more than that, she goes into a lengthy story about how she had gone to Scientology’s Flag Land Base at that time with her very good friend Lisa Marie Presley, and she was asked to sign the paper merely to keep staying there with her friend, and not to get any “religious services.”

We’re going to include the entire argument about that from the lawsuit, to show you how infuriating it is that Scientology forces its members into these ridiculous situations. But we will also point out that in the Tampa trafficking case, for example, the plaintiffs there also went into detail about how they had been forced to sign such contracts without even reading them. And the judge there, Judge Thomas Barber, though he clearly sympathized with the plaintiffs, said his hands were tied and granted the church’s motion to force the case into arbitration.

So, as compelling as Jane Doe 1’s narrative is here for why the court should ignore the contract, we will keep in mind that Scientology has been able to convince courts otherwise.

In 2002, Jane Doe, along with her 7-year-old daughter, accompanied her good friend Lisa Marie Presley, also a Scientologist, to “FLAG,” Scientology’s spiritual and training center in Clearwater, Florida as well as to visit her mother. Jane Doe’s mother had been told by Scientology that she was “unflat” and needed to undergo high level auditing, at her expense, that could only be administered at FLAG, and that she could not leave until the process was complete.

(Jane Doe also accompanied Ms. Presley to Disney World for a birthday celebration during their month-long stay in Florida.) Without this auditing and correction, Jane Doe’s mother would be unable to advance to OT III — a Scientology level she pledged to reach to have spiritual freedom. Until she underwent this correction, her mother was unable to take part in any courses in Los Angeles where she lived, a requirement to maintain her good standing. If Jane Doe’s mother abandoned the courses and returned to her family in Los Angeles, Scientology could “declare” her and expel her from the organization altogether.

Jane Doe’s father informed her that her mother was very stressed and unhappy that the process was taking longer than expected and that she felt isolated and alone for the first time in her life. He asked that Jane Doe take her daughter, with whom her mother was close, to visit and cheer her up. Jane Doe’s purpose at FLAG was purely social and to provide emotional support to her mother, and unrelated to any desire to obtain services.

FLAG has a high level of security, and visits to FLAG ordinarily require advance requests that must be approved, followed by a visitation fee paid by the visitor. Scientology visitors to FLAG must also first have their auditing files sent from their home base before being allowed on the base, and the visit to FLAG must be associated with some services to be obtained at the base. Because of Jane Doe’s friend’s celebrity status, the pre-visit requirements were initially waived for Jane Doe. However, after several weeks at FLAG, Scientology officials came under scrutiny regarding Jane Doe’s presence.

Jane Doe was told she must immediately sign the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization Religious Services Enrollment Application, Agreement and General Release (the “Agreement”), to permit her presence at FLAG. Defendants represented to Jane Doe that the form’s purpose was simply to allow Jane Doe to remain at FLAG in Clearwater and that she was stating that she would not ask for a refund if she was unhappy with services (in which she never intended to participate).

Defendants did not mention arbitration and Jane Doe was not given time to review the document. Jane Doe knew that any hesitation to sign or even fully read a Scientology document when presented — much less have counsel review the document with her — would be a violation of Scientology protocol. From her many years as a Scientologist, Jane Doe knew that such a violation would be met harshly and could result in her being assigned an unfavorable “label” within Scientology, such as “legal risk.”

To remove oneself from an unfavorable (and life-altering) “label,” she could be forced to take “courses” costing thousands of dollars or be subjected to hours-long interrogations and extensive investigations costing up to tens of thousands of dollars. FLAG officials also threatened potential punishment to Jane Doe if she did not sign the Agreement. Officials told Jane Doe she must sign the Agreement and stay to secure her mother’s continued participation in the costly auditing sessions.

FLAG officials told Jane Doe she had to remain on base to bring her mother “up tone,” or make her happy, during her months-long auditing, so she would not end the sessions and leave. Jane Doe was told that either she or FLAG would be blamed for the loss of a wealthy donor like her mother and that could result in punishment, including being given a “Non Enturbulation Order,” one step from being declared a Suppressive Person and being expelled from Scientology. Jane Doe was told her presence violated FLAG protocol and had to have a solution for her unpermitted presence.

Scientology forced the Agreement upon her as that solution, Jane Doe was under immense pressure from FLAG officials and for her lifetime had been taught to follow, and not question, Scientology orders. Therefore, when FLAG officials pushed the Agreement across the table, she understood she had no other choice but to follow orders and sign the Agreement. Jane Doe signed the Agreement only to allow her to remain at FLAG and avoid punishment for herself and her mother but had no intention of obtaining services.

Jane Doe knew that transferring services to FLAG would place her in jeopardy with Scientology’s Los Angeles location, her home base. Scientologists cannot receive Religious Services at FLAG until they first receive their “PC file,” a “pre-clear” file consisting of notes from all previous auditing sessions. If Jane Doe had her PC file transferred from Los Angeles to FLAG and began receiving services at FLAG, Los Angeles feared her family’s future contributions would follow.

Jane Doe understood her PC file would be requested but refused, and FLAG officials recognized this as the likely outcome. Indeed, upon FLAG’s request of Jane Doe’s PC files from Los Angeles, her handler, Julian Swartz, called her and — over her attempts to explain the situation — verbally berated Jane Doe for the request and refused to send the files as she knew he would. Without FLAG’s possession of her PC file, Jane Doe could not and did not participate in Religious Services at FLAG.

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No Scientology official ever signed or “accepted” the Agreement. Jane Doe never intended to receive Religious Services at FLAG, and the FLAG officials who forced her to sign the Agreement knew that crossing the necessary hurdles to allow her to receive Religious Services would be an impossibility. The Agreement was a fiction to create an otherwise unavailable solution, but one that would allow both her, her mother, and FLAG officials to avoid punishment. Even if it was not, the acts that Defendants now seek to have her arbitrate — child sexual abuse, rape and forced marriage — are not Religious Services subject to arbitration under the Agreement, nor are they activities that may be subjected to arbitration at all.

 
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Technology Cocktail

“If a wrong goal has been found on a pc and has been ‘confirmed’ as correct but later refuted, that goal must be Big Tiger Drilled out of existence, all pain and sensation and meter reaction off, at once.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1962

 
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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.

 
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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 [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman

 
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Source Code

“We have learned that it does no good in America to advertise. It doesn’t do any good to advertise. We get everybody we get by word of mouth. You understand, I’m merely talking on percentiles. Something like three out of fifty or three out of twenty-five come in because of ads. That is our average for all over the country.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 18, 1956

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“Talks: Thanks for the thanks I get on the talks. These Tapes (last 3 and onward) are to be copied and sent to other ships and added to AB Checksheet as the first items. LECTURE: THERE WILL BE NO LECTURE TONIGHT, Saturday or Sunday. They will resume Monday night. Two more are scheduled in the series — Monday and Tuesday.” — The Commodore, October 18, 1969

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Overheard in the FreeZone

“In ones own subjective universe, anything is literally possible and time does not have to go forward and many universes can occur together — as many as a mind can invent. But that is not how the Eighth Dynamic and its visible physical Universe of the 6th Dynamic works. Therefore I am wary of the science fiction and intelligence agency campaigns to mess with our minds and entice us into doubting that we are at cause and in control to some small but significant extent, of our own reality in this larger Reality.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1997: Operation Clambake web site creator Andreas Heldal-Lund reported a possible Scientology operation on him this week. “Today, October 14th at 19:50, a guy rings my doorbell. When I open the door he asks if I have a friend called Kristian. I tell him he must have come to the wrong place. He says that was strange because he was driven here earlier and told to come to this apartment and deliver 5 grams of ‘stuff’. I made it very clear to this guy that he definitely had come to the wrong place and that I will call the police if he ever comes here again. Then I slammed the door in his face. I’ve just called the local police department and promised them to send a written report tomorrow.”

 
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Random Howdy

“I asked vaLLarrr the Sci troll one time if any new OT levels were released, and they didn’t include Hubbard’s handwriting on some level, would s/he consider them genuine and s/he said ‘no’.”

 
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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.

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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SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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

[ONE year ago] ‘What’s Scientology on trial for?’ Danny Masterson lawyer hunted juror bias on Day 4
[TWO years ago] Is it really possible to study Scientology and ignore the people who were damaged by it?
[THREE years ago] The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 11: Gary Soter
[FOUR years ago] Duggans abandon scheme, give $48.8 million in AbbVie stock directly to Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Read the ‘disconnection letter’ from a brother telling his sis — Sylvia DeWall — so long forever
[SIX years ago] Scientology slut-shames Mimi Faust after destroying her family because … it’s a church!
[SEVEN years ago] Trademark lawsuit against Scientology’s drug rehab network settles weeks before trial
[EIGHT years ago] Countdown to Friday: ‘Scientology’s Dirty Tricks’ on the menu in Sydney
[NINE years ago] Tom Cruise shows up with his Scientology ‘Freedom Medal of Valor’ in London
[TEN years ago] Scientology Drug Rehab: New Evidence in the Disturbing Case of Richard Teague
[ELEVEN years ago] A Yoga Master’s Question For Scientology OT 8’s: Can You Show Cause Over Matter?

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 18, 2023 at 07:00

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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…

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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

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone