Valerie Haney’s suit against Scientology back to square one after court setback

 
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge denied Valerie Haney’s attempt at a do-over in her lawsuit against the Church of Scientology yesterday, leaving her back where she was in January with a couple of bad choices to make.

At issue yesterday was a motion for reconsideration she had filed after Burdge ruled in January that Valerie was bound by an agreement she signed before leaving her position in Scientology’s Sea Org promising to take any future grievances to Scientology’s own internal “religious arbitration” and not sue the church in court.

In her motion, Valerie had argued that she was actually fired and “declared” a “suppressive person” a week before she signed her exit agreement, nullifying it. And she said this was new evidence, which can be grounds for granting a motion for reconsideration.

But Scientology argued that the new evidence wasn’t new at all, and that Valerie’s legal team was pointing to documents which were already on the record when Judge Burdge made his original ruling. Valerie shouldn’t get a chance to make a new argument on old evidence simply because they had failed to in January, they argued.

Yesterday, Judge Burdge agreed with that argument, saying the new evidence wasn’t new, and denied Valerie’s motion.

Scientology has also asked for $160,000 in sanctions, saying Valerie’s motion wasted their time. That isn’t scheduled to be heard until January, and Judge Burdge refused Scientology’s request yesterday to hear it sooner.

Can Valerie appeal this new ruling by Judge Burdge? Our Los Angeles legal expert says no, she can’t. And they reiterated what they told us before, that Valerie is stuck with two bad alternatives.

1. She can go through with Scientology’s “religious” arbitration, which we have already seen in the Garcia case is a farce. But having gone through it, Valerie could then appeal Judge Burdge’s ruling to force her to go through it, and on constitutional grounds – after all, how can a former Scientologist be forced to go through a religious ritual in a church she no longer belongs to? It’s constitutionally repulsive, but again Valerie would first have to go through the farcical arbitration in order to file an appeal. Such an appeal, however, would be guaranteed to be considered by a higher court.

2. She could file a petition for a writ of mandamus, arguing that her situation is so extraordinary, it deserves to be heard by a higher court now. But appeals courts are under no obligation to grant such a petition and hear the case, and so, like the motion for reconsideration, it’s another long shot.

We feel for Valerie that she has to choose between those two alternatives.

 
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Kamala Harris as AG: Did she protect Scientology?

Naturally, now that Karen Bass has lost the VP sweepstakes, Scientology watchers quickly changed focus yesterday to the person presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden did choose as his running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris.

At his site, Jeffrey Augustine pointed out that the story we first broke here at the Bunker about Scientologists Hanan Islam and Rizza Islam getting indicted for Medi-Cal fraud in 2015 was done by an agency under the state attorney general, who at the time was Kamala Harris. (The Islams are still awaiting trial, which is scheduled for January.)

But at the forums, you may see grumbling about Harris rudely rejecting a delegation of former Scientologists who went to her as AG asking for an investigation. We’ve seen various claims about how terribly Harris supposedly handled this matter, and suggestions that she was somehow protecting the church.

But we’ve had a chance to look into this, and we’ve seen documentation of it. And what actually appears to have happened was that a request for an investigation by a former Scientologist asking for a refund was met with a response by Harris’s office that this wasn’t something under her jurisdiction.

The person who this happened to was naturally very disappointed and felt slighted by Harris. But as far as we can tell Harris was correct. Her office couldn’t really launch an investigation into money on account at Scientology.

And when her office did have an opportunity to file charges against Scientologists ripping off the state’s health care system, it did.

We don’t know if this means Harris would back DOJ action on Scientology if she and Biden are elected, but so far we haven’t seen anything in her record like Karen Bass’s years of shilling for David Miscavige.

If you have something to the contrary, please drop us a line. We’re open to being convinced otherwise.

 
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Source Code

“Apparently transfers from the Galley without apprenticeship or replacement and Quadruple hatting the food purchaser so he simply used the food chandler ashore are some of the obvious whys back of the sudden recent drop in food quality. The WHYs being advertised are the wrong whys — low allocation is a wrong why. The food isn’t kept to allocation and has become VERY expensive for very low quality due to using a chandler. This would not remedy the increased allocation as the allocation is already not followed. Advertising this as the why or remedying it will not restore food quality.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 12, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Currently, most of the world has been ordered to shut down. People are told to stay in their homes and no go out. Freedom curtailed. Told not to touch others. Told there is a pandemic and millions may die, Driving people down the tone scale to Fear. Deprived of income due to no work. Financial problems. Heavy fines (in some countries such as Australia) in the thousands if one is caught outside of home without a ‘justifiable’ reason. Penalty for Being. Media and news channels constantly emitting a barrage of bad news on deaths and how bad it is and the favourite phrase to imply agreement and stick all at the same level, ‘We are all in this together.’ Enforced agreement. These are the hallmarks of driving people PTS. This means that the driving force behind this must be an SP or group of SPs. Just knowing this can de-PTS someone who is familiar with the technology. One does NOT have to go into agreement with this socially enforced culture.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Refusal to accept one’s own mortality and a belief by humans that they are something more than just another species of animal is what drives this insanity.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Arraignment scheduled for September 18.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing is set for August 27 in White Plains, NY
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29

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.’ Motion for reconsideration denied on August 11
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Sept 4 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— 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.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were heard on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021

 
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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] My brother, the Scientologist: Trying to bridge the gap when Hubbardism is in the way
[TWO years ago] If Scientology is hurting, have its ‘expansion’ plans slowed down? Here’s our assessment
[THREE years ago] Garcia case update: Has Judge Whittemore managed to fill a Scientology arbitrating panel?
[FOUR years ago] Former workers file EEOC complaints saying Grant Cardone forced Scientology on them
[FIVE years ago] Scenes from the increasingly desperate straits Scientology finds itself in
[SIX years ago] Mark Bunker: Clearwater is being pressured to knuckle under to Scientology (again)
[SEVEN years ago] THIS IS THE SOUND OF SCIENTOLOGY’S FORCED DISCONNECTION
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: Bowl With The Valley Girls!
[NINE years ago] Scientology Sees Fundraising Gold in the UK Riots: “We Have a Strategy”
[TWELVE years ago] Isaac Hayes Was No Expert Scientologist

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 12, 2020 at 07:00

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