Leah Remini wants an injunction to muzzle Scientology, and now we have the church’s reply

We told you that on Friday, Judge Randolph Hammock told both sides in Leah Remini’s lawsuit against the Church of Scientology to stop burying him in filings ahead of what is now an important January 16 hearing.

But Scientology managed to get quite a few filings in that morning before the judge shut things down, and one of them was something we’d been anticipating: Scientology’s response to Leah’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

Leah filed her lawsuit on August 2, and even before Scientology responded to it she filed the motion, saying that the harassment against her and co-star Mike Rinder and also the Aftermath Foundation had only increased, and she asked the court to issue an injunction to keep Scientology from harassing and stalking her while the lawsuit is going on.

For now, the motion for the injunction is scheduled to be heard on January 19.

One of the documents Scientology got in under wire Friday was its response to Leah’s motion, and as you can imagine, it is written in Scientology’s typical angry style by attorneys William Forman (for Church of Scientology International) and Matthew Hinks (for the Religious Technology Center).

We thought you’d want to get a flavor of it, so here’s the document’s full introduction:

“Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.” – Winston Churchill.

That is all Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction (“Motion”) is about – her outrage that Defendants spoke back after her years of attack. The Motion’s numerous defects show that it is born in outrage and not in any facts or law. To list just some of the fatal problems with the Motion:

— It seeks an impermissible prior restraint of speech.
— It identifies no speech – such as a credible threat of violence – that could ever be subject to prior restraint.
— It identifies no conduct that amounts to a credible threat of violence.
— With perhaps one exception, it describes alleged conduct directed towards third persons, not Plaintiff.
— It does not provide a single piece of evidence showing Defendants are responsible for any of the alleged conduct. (And they are not).
— It seeks relief on a claim this Court has no jurisdiction to hear.
— It seeks relief for conduct outside of the Court’s jurisdiction.
— It presents no evidence of irreparable harm.
— It is impermissibly vague both as to the conduct and/or speech to be restrained, and the persons to be “protected.”

The Motion is so patently deficient that motives beyond its stated grounds must be considered. It is another round of transparent, self-generated publicity for Plaintiff and a vehicle to abuse the litigation privilege to falsely accuse Defendants of crimes. Perhaps the biggest giveaway is Plaintiff’s argument that the Court should just grant the injunction because it requests “only that Defendants cease conduct that is unlawful,” (Motion at 9:5-6). That formulation is meaningless. The proposition that a party should not engage in unlawful conduct is quite literally the law and cannot in itself warrant granting an injunction. But a meaningful injunction is not the objective. Plaintiff wants an order – any order – to show her followers that the Church has been enjoined from unspecified “unlawful conduct” and therefore must be doing something bad. The Court should not let itself be used by Plaintiff as a megaphone in her latest public relations stunt.

Scientology says it is holding Leah “to account” for “hate speech,” and for her “unconstitutional attempt to silence” the church through her lawsuit.

But the motion for a preliminary injunction goes even farther than that, they say.

Leah’s motion asks the court to enjoin Scientology from harassing, attacking, and interfering with her or her family. Scientology responds that these are just “euphemisms for speech that [Remini] dislikes.”

For example, Leah complained that various people “believed to be connected to Scientology have submitted complaints to Instagram about me and my posts,” and labeling them hate speech. These complaints, she says, could risk her losing her Instagram account and her ability to advocate for victims.

Scientology counters that Leah “wants this Court to stop anyone from complaining to Instagram about her manifest bigotry towards Scientology. Because speaking the truth is bad for her brand.”

As for incidents of people knocking at Leah’s mother’s door, or loitering outside her manager’s house, or someone who claimed to be an Amazon delivery driver to get into her gated community, Scientology says there isn’t “an iota of evidence” that any of these incidents were connected with the church.

Later, after arguing that the law is not on Leah’s side, Scientology then swears under oath that it is not behind several incidents that Leah had cited in her motion.

They include: A man claiming to be an Amazon delivery person who tried to get into Leah’s gated community. Two men who knocked on her mother’s door. A broken window at her mother’s restaurant. And unknown people texting Leah’s sister and asking for contact info for Leah.

“Defendants state under oath that they were not involved in these alleged incidents,” Scientology states, and then dismisses them as random events: “This is just life. People knock on doors; Amazon delivers packages; people get spam texts. Not only is there ‘no there there,’ Plaintiff’s only ‘proof’ that Defendants are responsible for any of this is her speculative and bigoted say-so.”

Well, as we’ve pointed out before, both sides are really letting loose at each other in these filings, and we’re really wondering how Judge Hammock is going to weigh in when he deals with Scientology’s motion to strike on Tuesday (Jan 16) and then when he looks at this motion for a preliminary injunction just three days later.

It seems like a lot is at stake, and we’ll be watching it closely.

 
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Technology Cocktail

“When we called a Release a ‘Keyed out Clear’ we erred in giving any further casual auditing. It was this which made the state of Release look unstable when it seemed so—the person was further audited to relieve him or her of locks, secondaries and engrams which had ceased to exist.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1965

 
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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

Source Code

“A little bulletin here: Aussies, hang your head in shame! All through the Commonwealth with the greatest of ease, I was able to slow down this government raid on the church in Washington, but not in Australia. You see, the lines go straight from Australia to the United States and back and forth. And the whole rigged government release in Washington landed scram-bang into the press in Australia. So Australia is a seething mess of ‘God ‘elp us’ now, and somebody from the Australian syndicate is coming down to see me tomorrow, and they want to know all about it. I’m not going to tell them very much beyond a fascist government raided a church. I’ll tell them, Be very, very careful, though, because apparently there’s a million dollars in the offing to fight this in the United States. They actually got all kinds of leads and money pouring in like mad from all directions, and the situation looks very dark for the United States.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 10, 1963

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“Bless AOLA! They held their trend and all the GDSes continue to go up like rockets and their GI is over $41,000. They’re a great team, and we admire them.” — The Commodore, January 10, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“It all just makes it real to me of what LRH says on OT2 about the effect of implants and also just how well the CIA has hijacked the tech for both the church and FZ. What I have been witnessing is one huge confusion. It will require one seriously strong being to find the stable datum around which all else will unconfuse. And then we will still have fucknuts insisting that their version is the only correct one. Much like the circus called Christianity.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1998: CBS investigative show Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel aired a broadcast about Lisa McPherson’s death at the hands of Scientology. Sue M. provided a transcript. Some excerpts: “She was not rich, famous, or powerful. But in death, Lisa McPherson is grabbing headlines normally reserved for Scientology’s celebrity followers. That’s because after two years, the death of Lisa McPherson remains to many a mystery. Lisa, a devout Scientologist, spent the last 17 days of her life confined to a room inside this hotel owned by Scientology. Church records show that during that time, Lisa became violent, refusing to eat or sleep. The tragedy has left Lisa’s aunt and closest living relative, Dell Liebreich, searching for answers. KRISTEN JEANNETTE-MYERS: Do you think criminal charges should be filed? LIEBREICH: I definitely do. I definitely do. Because I feel like they killed her. BONNIE PORTALANO: Lisa and the accident scene was behind our ambulance. And he says, ‘You’re never going to guess what she’s doing,’ speaking of Lisa, and I said, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘She’s taking off her clothes.’ And it was like a few seconds later she came walking down the side of our ambulance with not a stitch on. As I went to get her, you know, I said, ‘Lisa, Lisa,’ you know, ‘Why did you take your clothes off?’ And she said, ‘I wanted people to think I was crazy so then I could get some help.’ DENNIS ERLICH: I was in it for 15 years. I know that it is a cult. The step consists of locking a person in a room where they cannot communicate with anyone. No one is to communicate with them. And they’re to be kept there until they supposedly come out of their psychotic state. JEANNETTE-MEYERS: Rest and relaxation sounds like a wonderful idea. But the records say that two days into her stay she was spitting out food and vomiting, four days into her stay she was ashen faced and feverish, and then she became violent, striking the attendants, hallucinating, thinking that she’s L. Ron Hubbard, being too weak to stand, soiling herself, crying, babbling, breaking things. At that point, isn’t it clear that it’s not working? MIKE RINDER: What’s not working? JEANNETTE-MEYERS: Resting, taking her away? RINDER: I don’t think that that’s clear at all. I don’t think that you can draw inferences or conclusions from what is said. You can read other reports and later on there is a different perspective. KEN DANDAR: So could you imagine Lisa McPherson, who is mentally unstable according to Scientology, is having these people come in and try to force feed her, and she’s yelling and screaming at them. She’s banging on the wall. She’s fighting with them. She’s asking them questions. But they are not allowed to respond to her. All they can do is turn around and walk out the room, and then write a report to the case supervisor and close the door behind them. And she’s not allowed to leave. RINDER: Dandar is an idiot. That’s my response to that. He hasn’t got a clue. He is the worst of the worst of what makes the American legal system so out of control. He is an ambulance chasing gold digger. DANDAR: My reply to that is simple: If they had called an ambulance for Lisa McPherson, I wouldn’t be here today. GUMBEL: Those affiliated with Scientology ran an orchestrated campaign pressuring us to not run the piece you just watched. Do you not consider the mysterious death of a young woman in the care of Scientologists as a valid reason for outside questions? HEBER JENTZSCH: I consider the fact that your people were given information, Bryant, that they did not put on the show, and there were various specific information that they could have used. Joan Wood, the medical examiner, she never did the autopsy on this case. And that was known to your people. It was done by a Dr. Davis, and he did the actual autopsy, OK? And in his autopsy, he said he did not agree with Joan Wood, the medical examiner. Davis did about 25 autopsies, 24 were completed. One was not completed. The reason that one, on Lisa McPherson, was not completed was because his notes were not available. They were not available because Joan Wood, the medical examiner, destroyed those notes. Then, she goes on national tabloid TV and starts blabbing about all these kinds of accusations and so forth. That is sickening to me. It is sickening that it has to be done that way when your people had the information. And then she says to Davis, who did– GUMBEL: Mr. Jentzsch, even if I accept that those people loved her and wanted to take care of her, your own logs clearly depict a woman with a deteriorating mental condition and failing health. Do your people have no responsibility to have those maladies professionally addressed? JENTZSCH: You’re saying that a psychiatrist is going to do something which is gonna be better. You know, there s a case in Miami, Florida which dealt with this directly. And there was a fellow who was also dramatizing like this and carrying on. You know what they did to him? Eleven attendants jumped him. They threw a blanket around his head. They kneed him in the back, they knocked him down– GUMBEL: I never mentioned the word ‘psychiatrist’, sir– JENTZSCH (raising voice more): I know, but you and I talked earlier today and I did mention it and you know that that’s part of this case and you know that was part of the — the problem with this, OK? Psychiatrists destroy people’s lives. They have the highest incidents of rape and so forth. She didn’t want to go there. It’s very clear– GUMBEL: They have the highest incidents of rape? JENTZSCH (raising voice more): Of any profession. There’s 2,500 indictments against psychiatrists in this country last year alone. Why would you go to a bunch of people like that who use electric shock? And that causes brain damage. That destroys people lives. She didn’t want to go there. She had a right not to go there with a psychiatrist.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Miscavige isn’t that old and he’s got plenty of money, real estate, and willing slaves to play with. I saw an interview with Pol Pot shortly before he died and it boiled down to him saying he wished he could do some things over but he did what he thought was best for the people of Cambodia. Miscavige is either a non-believer who thinks ‘suckers get what they deserve and if it wasn’t me somebody else would be fleecing these idiots’ or he’s a believer and thinks ‘Yes, I’ve been a strongman, but that’s what was necessary to insure the survival of this organization.’ Caesar or charlatan?”

 
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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. Sentenced to 30 years to life 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. Next pretrial hearing January 29, 2024.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.

Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Complaint filed August 2, motion to strike/anti-SLAPP motions by Scientology to be heard January 9, 2024.
— 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: Discovery phase.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration.
— 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] We’re back in Los Angeles to learn if Danny Masterson is getting a retrial
[TWO years ago] Another ‘Chase Wave’ witness, and Scientology’s ‘ludicrous’ money grab!
[THREE years ago] Adding insult to injury, Valerie Haney faces a hearing for $160,000 in sanctions this week
[FOUR years ago] Activists find Scientologist French police tried for years to question about 2006 suicide
[FIVE years ago] Uh-oh. Someone trusted a whole bunch of money to a wealthy Scientologist.
[SIX years ago] Xenu or Xemu? Here’s our take on one of Scientology’s galactic-wide mysteries
[SEVEN years ago] Tonight on ‘Leah Remini’: Once again, Scientology’s a horror show for the mentally ill
[EIGHT years ago] A business executive looks at Scientology as a (poorly run) business
[NINE years ago] Jon Atack: Scientology’s ‘training routines’ and their relationship to meditation
[TEN years ago] Black hearts and burning crosses: Scientology litigation is getting weird in Texas
[ELEVEN years ago] The Master Gets Three Oscar Nominations

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 10, 2024 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

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone