In recent weeks, attorneys for Jane Doe, a Florida woman suing Scientology for what she alleges was years of sexual abuse that she endured as a child employee for the church, boldly filed notices in court that they intended to subject three top Scientology officials to sworn video depositions, including church leader David Miscavige.
The first of those depositions were supposed to take place today in Los Angeles, with Religious Technology Center representative Warren McShane and Church of Scientology International representative Lynn Farny. Miscavige was supposed to be questioned in the same LA court reporting company office next week.
But on Monday, RTC and CSI filed motions for protective orders, telling the court that they had objections to the depositions being taken before the court ruled on Scientology’s argument that the case was filed in the wrong court to begin with.
According to the filings and emails attached as exhibits, the attorneys on both sides held a “meet and confer” telephone conference on March 12 to discuss the matter, and Scientology explained that McShane and Farny would not be available for depositions on March 19, and that the coronavirus pandemic was making rescheduling a difficult issue, even though Jane Doe’s side wanted to get the testimony before a scheduled April 20 hearing.
Scientology explained to the court that its main problem with the requests for sworn testimony was that it was still waiting for responses to its motions objecting to the case being filed in Miami, motions that were filed in November.
Jane Doe apparently has no connection to Miami, and her allegations involve sexual abuse that occurred at Scientology facilities in Venezuela and Clearwater, Florida, on the other side of the peninsula. The only connection to Miami seems to be that Scientology has an “Ideal Org” there, and that Jane Doe’s attorney, Ricardo Martinez-Cid, is based there.
Scientology tells the judge that they explained to Martinez-Cid in their telephone conference that they are still waiting for him to respond to their motion about filing in the wrong venue, and they objected to David Miscavige being deposed at all because, they say, there is no reason to depose the church leader on a simple issue of jurisdiction.
“All I said as to the deposition of Miscavige was that I would be happy to evaluate our need for the deposition at this time to see if we could cancel as a courtesy to you, regardless of our discussion on the other depositions,” Martinez-Cid wrote in an email to RTC’s attorneys after the telephone conference.
Tuesday, Martinez-Cid filed the notice to cancel the request to depose David Miscavige. No reason on the document was given.
Meanwhile, Scientology has filed for the protective orders, objecting to McShane and Farny being interrogated before Jane Doe’s side responds to their November motions about jurisdiction.
Also, besides the question of venue, the scheduled April 20 hearing will feature arguments from Scientology regarding their attempt to force Jane Doe into “religious arbitration,” which the church successfully accomplished in another lawsuit filed by this national legal team, the one filed on behalf of Leah Remini’s assistant, Valerie Haney.
We sent an email to Martinez-Cid asking about his reasons for dropping the request to depose Miscavige, and we’ll let you know if he gets back to us.
Here is the document from RTC asking for a protective order, with the email exhibits…
Jane Doe v. Scientology: RT… by Tony Ortega on Scribd
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What Tuesday’s vote says about Scientology
Aaron Smith-Levin made this excellent point yesterday at Facebook about Mark Bunker’s election:
OSA was under a LOT of pressure to mobilize all eligible Scientologist voters to vote for Eliseo Santana to make sure Mark Bunker lost the election.
Mark won anyway.
This was a high-stakes election for Scientology. Voting was MANDATORY for all eligible Scientologists.
And yet Eliseo still only got 3,200 votes.
Why Eliseo? No special reason. He was just the only candidate desperate enough to want and accept help from Scientology.
Of course not everyone who voted for Eliseo is a Scientologist…but every Scientologist who voted, voted for Eliseo. So we know the number of votes Scientology was able to mobilize in this election was WAY less than 3,200.
The real number is closer to 800 to 1,000.
Media outlets should keep this in mind the next time Scientology claims to have 15,000 members living in Clearwater.
The real number of Scientologists living in, not just Clearwater but all of Tampa Bay, is closer to 4,000.
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Bonus items from our tipsters
Freedom Medal winner and raving anti-Semite Tony Muhammad goes Clear!
Austin is near!
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“The person who is suppressing thetans has an invisible field. He has a total nothingness involved and other types of suppression. So you’ll have suppression of visible things, suppression of invisible things, suppression of matter, energy, space, time. You get suppression of almost anything you can think of. And anytime you suppress anything in a certain time stream, you, of course, are also suppressing time. So time becomes the primary suppression. And therefore, you get the instantaneous quality of the reactive bank, so that all time is now in the reactive bank because of the suppression of the reactive bank. And that is simply not-isness in the reactive bank.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 19, 1962
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“I have trouble sometimes wondering why many people who became Scientologists did so. LRH observed on the Apollo that most of the people there had little understanding of Scientology and ordered everyone to go to the courseroom and study 2 basic books. The ranks of such cesspits as ESMB are filled with people who barely knew anything about the subject who became disillusioned when they didn’t suddenly become magically all-powerful. For a vast portion of the population, TRs are far too steep a gradient. ARC straitwire is too arduous for them. It is a work for many lifetimes.”
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“I love a good yodel. I think I’m going to have to upload some yodeling vids here shortly. I found some good ones by Nina Hagen and Jewel. I’ll let the people decide democratically.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Jay Spina: Sentencing set for April 3 in White Plains
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members: Trial set for April 14 in Los Angeles
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Waiting for an appellate decision from the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for April 16
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology: April 22 (plaintiff attorneys pro hac vice), June (demurrers by Masterson and Scientology), June (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe’s attorneys have asked for discovery and depositions (Warren McShane, Lynn Farny), April 20 hearing set (motions to dismiss, motion to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were held on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Complaint filed.
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Start making your plans…
Head over to the convention website and meet us in St. Louis!
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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] Cops, soft porn, and psychiatry: The curious origin of Scientology’s Snow White Program
[TWO years ago] Not-ready-for-Scientology TV: L. Ron Hubbard’s fortune telling tricks still being sold today
[THREE years ago] Scientology’s pitch to Clearwater: Let us buy land for hotel, and we’ll gussy up downtown
[FOUR years ago] A Scientology spy comes forward: Now he’s ready for ‘war’ with David Miscavige
[FIVE years ago] ‘Going Clear’ fallout: Imagining the fate of Scientology and David Miscavige
[SIX years ago] Finally, a last stand against space cooties: It’s Scientology’s New Operating Thetan Level 7!
[SEVEN years ago] Early On, Scientology Turns You Into a Snitch
[EIGHT years ago] FBI Investigation of Scientology: Already Over Before We Even Heard of It
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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 1,882 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,386 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 1,906 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 926 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 817 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,124 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,992 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,766 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,540 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,886 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,452 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,371 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,539 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,120 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,381 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,419 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,132 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,657 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,184 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,747 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,887 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,207 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,062 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,182 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,537 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,840 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,946 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,348 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,220 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,803 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,298 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,552 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,661 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 19, 2020 at 07:00
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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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