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Scientology library: “Lawsuit”

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bankruptcy • ben shaw • copyright, trademark, patent • david miscavige • death • deborah o'neil • dell liebreich • factnet • fair game • fraud, lie, deceit, misrepresentation • internal revenue service (irs) • joan wood • judge susan f. schaeffer • kennan g. "ken" dandar • lawrence "larry" wollersheim • lawsuit • legal • lisa mcpherson • lisa mcpherson trust • luke charles lirot • private investigator(s) • robert farley • robert s. "bob" minton • sea organization (sea org, so) • silencing criticism, censorship
Reference materials Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP)
66 matching items found between Jan 2000 and Dec 2004. Furthermore, there are 1170 matching items for all time not shown.
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Jun 11, 2002
Scientology hearing plods along — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Monday was supposed to be Day One of the long-delayed wrongful death trial against the Church of Scientology. Instead, it was Day 22 of a hearing to throw out the lawsuit that blames the church for the 1995 death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson. The hearing, which began May 2 and now boasts nearly 300 exhibits, is not nearly over. Judge Susan Schaeffer has set aside most of this week and next for the proceeding. The church is accusing attorney Ken Dandar, ...
Jun 2, 2002
The CEO and his church — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil, Jeff Harrington
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Months of interviews and thousands of pages of court papers show the effect that influential church members had on a Clearwater company that was a darling of the dot-com boom. It was New Year's Eve 1997 when Digital Lightwave's chief, Bryan Zwan, made his biggest deal: a $9-million contract for his signature product, a 10-pound device that tests telephone lines. At 5:30 p.m., Zwan phoned his production staff and gave them a tall order: Ship the 308 units right away. It ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 16, 2002
Follow that story // Eighty-six million dimes — Denver Westword News
Type: Press
Author(s): Alan Prendergast
Source: Denver Westword News
A 22-year legal battle came to an abrupt end last week when the Church of Scientology paid $8.67 million to one of its harshest critics: a former member who claimed the church had harassed him for years and driven him "to the brink of insanity." The settlement between the church's California organization and former Boulder resident Lawrence Wollersheim is notable not only for its size, but for its public nature. In the past, litigation involving the controversial "new religion"—founded by science-fiction ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 11, 2002
After 22 years, church pays damages to ex-member — The Age (Australia)
Type: Press
Author(s): Richard Leiby
Source: The Age (Australia)
Nearly 22 years ago, Lawrence Wollersheim, a disaffected member of the Church of Scientology, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing the church of mental abuse that pushed him to the brink of suicide. Teams of lawyers and various rulings came and went, all the way to the US Supreme Court. Judgments against the church hit $US30 million ($A55 million), then dropped to $US2.5 million. But the Church of Scientology never paid - until Thursday, when officials wrote a cheque for ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 11, 2002
Church of Scientology pays $8.6M in legal dispute — USA Today
Type: Press
Source: USA Today
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Church of Scientology has agreed to pay a former member more than $8.6 million to resolve a lawsuit filed nearly 22 years ago. In his 1980 lawsuit, Lawrence Wollersheim accused the church of causing him to develop bipolar disorder and to contemplate suicide. A jury in 1986 awarded him $30 million, an amount reduced on appeal to $2.5 million and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1994. Church officials on Thursday handed over a check for ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 10, 2002
Church settles suit after 22 years / Ex-Scientologist who won judgment collects $8.6 million — San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Type: Press
Author(s): Richard Leiby
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Nearly 22 years ago, Lawrence Wollersheim, a disaffected member of the Church of Scientology, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing the church of mental abuse that pushed him to the brink of suicide. Teams of lawyers and various rulings came and went, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judgments against the church hit $30 million, then dropped to $2.5 million. But the Church of Scientology never paid — until Thursday, when officials wrote a check for more than ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 10, 2002
Ex-Scientologist collects $8.7 million in 22-year-old case — Washington Post
Type: Press
Author(s): Richard Leiby
Source: Washington Post
Nearly 22 years ago, Lawrence Wollersheim, a disaffected member of the Church of Scientology, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing the church of mental abuse that pushed him to the brink of suicide. Teams of lawyers and various rulings came and went, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judgments against the church hit $30 million, then dropped to $2.5 million. But the Church of Scientology never paid — until yesterday, when officials wrote a check for more than ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 3, 2002
Allegations won't alter church suit — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Regardless of legal misconduct claims, a judge says a wrongful death suit against the Church of Scientology is going to trial. ST. PETERSBURG — A wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology probably won't be dismissed because of recent allegations of legal misconduct, a judge indicated Thursday. A hearing resumes this morning on a motion to remove attorney Ken Dandar, who represents the estate of Lisa McPherson, a church member who died in 1995 while in the care of Scientologists ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 2, 2002
Affidavit of Jesse Prince
More: groups.google.com
Type: Press
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA GENERAL CIVIL DIVISION Case No. 00-5682-C1 Section 11 ESTATE OF LISA McPHERSON, by and through the Personal Representative, DELL LIEBREICH Plaintiff, vs. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG SERVICE ORGANIZATION, INC.; JANIS JOHNSON; ALAIN KARTUZINSKI; and DAVID HOUGHTON, Defendants. —– APRIL 2002 AFFIDAVIT OF JESSE PRINCE STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF HILLSBOROUGH BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, personally appeared JESSE PRINCE, who after being duly sworn ...
Apr 29, 2002
Church targets lawsuit attorney — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Scientology tries to end a lawsuit by having the plaintiff's attorney in the case removed. CLEARWATER – The Church of Scientology is rolling out an aggressive set of legal maneuvers aimed at wiping out one of its biggest headaches: the lawsuit blaming the church for the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson. The church is zeroing in on Tampa attorney Ken Dandar, who in representing McPherson's family has mustered an unrelenting challenge costing the church millions and fueling unending bad publicity. Accusing ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Mar 19, 2002
Binman wins 'rubbish' film case — BBC News
Type: Press
Source: BBC News
Benjamin "the binman" Pell, known for rifling through celebrities' rubbish, has won a court victory against a man who promised to make a film of his life. He will now get £77,500 back from businessman John Mappin, who told Mr Pell he could turn his story into a Hollywood blockbuster. Mr Pell said he had been "duped" into handing over the money to Mr Mappin, who claimed he would sign up a famous film director. But instead, he enlisted his best ...
Mar 12, 2002
Benji's claims con — Birmingham Post
More: highbeam.com
Type: Press
Source: Birmingham Post
Benjamin Pell — better known as Benji the Binman - yesterday launched a High Court damages action claiming he was misled into handing over money for a Hollywood blockbuster to be made out of his life. Mr Pell has brought an action for fraudulent misrepresentation against businessman John Mappin. He is seeking the repayment of pounds 77,500 and unspecified damages. Mr Pell's counsel, Marion Smith, told Mr Justice Gray that his primary case was that he was 'duped' into paying out ...
Jan 1, 2002
The news about the news / American journalism in peril / A risky story — Random House, Inc.
Type: Press
Author(s): Leonard Downie Jr., Robert G. Kaiser
Source: Random House, Inc.
READ THE ARTICLE (Thanks to nytimes.com for access to their archives.): Scientology's Puzzling Journey From Tax Rebel to Tax Exempt New York Times March 9, 1997 By Douglas Frantz The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by a writer named L. Ron Hubbard. For years Scientology sought to persuade the Internal Revenue Service that it was a religion and deserved the same tax deduction given to traditional religious groups. Scientology took in hundreds of millions of dollars, and for decades ...
Dec 9, 2001
Church loads up for one last fight — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
CLEARWATER – No angry swarms picketed the Church of Scientology last week. No candlelight vigils. No TV cameras. No extra police patrols. For the first time in six years, the anniversary of the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson passed quietly. The McPherson maelstrom, which brought nightmarish publicity for the church, has ebbed dramatically, now that the high-profile criminal charges against the church were dropped and a raucous group of church critics recently left Clearwater. But one critical battle remains, one so ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Aug 4, 2001
Doctor in Lisa McPherson case suspended — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Thomas C. Tobin
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
David I. Minkoff loses his license for one year for improperly prescribing drugs for the Scientologist. TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen — Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed Church of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown. When they ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Jun 22, 2001
Church scores round in death suit — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Robert Farley
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
A judge dismisses the allegation that Lisa McPherson was falsely imprisoned. ST. PETERSBURG — The Church of Scientology won a partial victory Thursday when a judge dismissed one of four counts in a 4-year-old wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of Lisa McPherson. In one of his final acts overseeing the case, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Frank Quesada dismissed the count alleging that McPherson was falsely imprisoned. Ken Dandar, the lawyer representing the McPherson estate, argued that McPherson was psychotic and ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Jun 22, 2001
Unfair Game — L.A. Weekly (California)
More: rickross.com
Type: Press
Author(s): Gale Holland
Source: L.A. Weekly (California)
It was 2:15 p.m. when Keith Henson and his friend Gregg Hagglund finished picking up contact-lens solution and shaving lotion at a suburban Toronto mall and climbed into their car. Before they could fasten their seat belts, two unmarked vans squealed up, pinning their Mazda economy sedan in from the rear and the passenger side. A handful of emergency-services task-force officers – Canada‘s version of a police SWAT team – spilled out, wearing body armor and carrying submachine guns. As shoppers ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Jun 7, 2001
Unorthodox arrest // Church of scientology calls cops and has one of its harshest and most vocal critics jailed — NOW Magazine
Type: Press
Author(s): Enzo Di Matteo
Source: NOW Magazine
it’s an unshaven and frazzled-looking Keith Henson who shuffles into the converted jail cell used as a hearing room Thursday morning at the Metro West Detention Centre. He’s in broad-rims, jail-issue orange jumpsuit and blue canvas runners that he’s wearing like flip-flops because they’re too small for his feet. A flap of grey hair is swooshed over a bald spot on the top of his head. The unrepentant Scientology foe was arrested in a parking lot in Oakville by Halton regional ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 30, 2001
'Destroy him utterly' — Hour Magazine (Canada)
Type: Press
Author(s): M-J Milloy
Source: Hour Magazine (Canada)
Keith Henson, American activist on the run in Canada, thinks the controversial Church of Scientology has made him fair game for dirty tricks Looking back, maybe the joke about the "Tom Cruise Missile" wasn't such a good idea. That online jest, made last year by Keith Henson, a peaceful if persistent critic of the controversial Church of Scientology, has led to his being found guilty of "intimidating a religion," and now on the run from the U.S., hiding out in plain ...
May 26, 2001
Opinion: Church behavior? — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Scientology claims that it has reformed and says it should be treated like any other church. But the Jesse Prince case and others continue to set this church apart. You have to be courageous to publicly criticize the Church of Scientology. The organization recently proved – again – how far it will go to investigate, smear and intimidate critics. Jesse Prince is one of those people the Church of Scientology perceives as an enemy because he is a vocal critic. A ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 26, 2001
Scientology critic won't face retrial — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Prosecutors decide to drop a marijuana charge after jurors, concerned about church influence, deadlock. CLEARWATER — When the two-day misdemeanor trial of Scientology critic Jesse Prince ended Thursday, jurors had little doubt he had possessed marijuana as the state charged. What bothered some of them, according to two jurors, was the possibility that Prince had been set up by the Church of Scientology. They heard testimony about how Prince, once a high-ranking church member, was watched, videotaped and trailed for months ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 24, 2001
Scientology is a key player in marijuana case — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Deborah O'Neil
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
The defense is bringing the church into the case, saying that the arrest was tied to the church's relentless surveillance of a critic, the defendant. LARGO — Five lawyers helped fill the courtroom Wednesday in a misdemeanor trial that included poster-board-size charts, a video recording, expert scientific testimony, five other witnesses and repeated references to the Church of Scientology. After five hours of courtroom proceedings, the marijuana possession case against strident Scientology critic Jesse Prince still was not over at the ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 3, 2001
Earthlink co-founder is sued over investments — New York Times
Type: Press
Source: New York Times
LOS ANGELES, May 2 — Lawsuits filed by investors accuse a co-founder of the Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. of bilking them of more than $35 million. The co-founder, Reed E. Slatkin, a venture capitalist from Santa Barbara, Calif., is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his financial dealings, according to a report today in The Los Angeles Times. Investors have filed at least three lawsuits against Mr. Slatkin, with lawyers saying that he collected more than ...
May 3, 2001
Tom Cruise sues gay porn actor — ABC News
Type: Press
Source: ABC News
Tom Cruise is involved in a blockbuster lawsuit that sounds more like a script for a saucy Hollywood drama. Cruise has issued a $100 million defamation suit against porn star Chad Slater, who goes by the stage name Kyle Bradford, after Slater reportedly told a French paper he had a gay love affair with Cruise that resulted in the breakup of his 11-year marriage to Nicole Kidman. "While Cruise thoroughly respects others' rights to follow their own sexual preference, he is ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
May 2, 2001
Co-Founder of EarthLink is accused of investor fraud — Los Angeles Times (California)
Type: Press
Author(s): Liz Pulliam Weston, Myron Levin
Source: Los Angeles Times (California)
Courts: Lawsuits allege Reed E. Slatkin bilked friends out of $35 million. SEC is also conducting an investigation. Investors are accusing Reed E. Slatkin, a co-founder of the giant Internet service provider EarthLink Inc., of operating a Ponzi scheme that may have resulted in the loss of least $35 million of their funds. Slatkin—a Santa Barbara socialite and venture capitalist—also is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his financial activities, which allegedly included a day-trading operation that promised ...
Mar 17, 2001
Xenu do, but not on Slashdot — Wired
Type: Press
Author(s): Declan McCullagh
Source: Wired
The geek-culture destination Slashdot.org said on Friday that it deleted a post in response to legal threats from the Church of Scientology. Scientology's notoriously litigious team of attack attorneys successfully pressured the site's editors into erasing a discussion board message, which allegedly contained copyrighted material. "While Slashdot is an open forum and we encourage free discussion and sharing of ideas, our lawyers have advised us that, considering all the details of this case, the comment should come down," co-founder Rob "CmdrTaco" ...
Feb 12, 2001
Leaving the fold // Third-generation Scientologist grows disillusioned with faith — San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Type: Press
Author(s): Don Lattin
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Astra Woodcraft, apostate and defector, is the latest enemy of the Church of Scientology. Woodcraft, 22, never really joined this controversial psycho-spiritual movement, at least not as a free-thinking adult. Astra was born into it. Founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, a prolific science fiction writer and freelance philosopher, Scientology describes itself as "the only major new religion established in the 20th century," as a bridge to increased awareness and spiritual freedom. Woodcraft, a third-generation Scientologist, paints a different ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Aug 17, 2000
Group threatens legal battle against Battlefield Earth — KOAT Albuquerque
Type: Press
Source: KOAT Albuquerque
FactNet, a group battling Scientology, warned Thursday that "lawsuits may soon be flying" over MGM's upcoming release of Battlefield Earth, based on a sci-fi novel by Scientology's late founder L. Ron Hubbard and starring the group's most outspoken celebrity, John Travolta. In a statement, FactNet charged that Scientology "has placed subliminal messages in the BattleField Earth film master to surreptitiously recruit new members from the movie audience," that it secretly financed the film, that it will use the film to recruit ...
Jun 14, 2000
A case so different from all the others — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s): Howard Troxler
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
The distinction was important. To McCabe, the issue was never about the Church of Scientology as a religious institution. It was about whether a corporation of the church had illegally abused a member named Lisa McPherson, and whether it practiced medicine on her without a license, in the days leading to her death in 1995. The Church of Scientology now has two distinctions at the hands of Bernie McCabe. The first is that he chose to prosecute the church (I mean, ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
Jun 13, 2000
Florida drops charges against Scientology in 1995 death — New York Times
Type: Press
Author(s): Douglas Frantz
Source: New York Times
Criminal charges against the Church of Scientology in the death of a church member who was under the organization's care were dropped yesterday because Florida prosecutors said they could no longer prove the accusations. Bernie McCabe, the state attorney for Pasco and Pinellas Counties, said in a document filed in state court in Clearwater that his office was dismissing the charges because the medical examiner had determined earlier this year that the death of the church member, Lisa McPherson, was accidental. ...
Item contributed by: Ron Sharp
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Other web sites with precious media archives. There is also a downloadable SQL dump of this library (use it as you wish, no need to ask permission.)   In May 2008, Ron Sharp's hard work consisting of over 1260 FrontCite tagged articles were integrated with this library. There are more contributors to this library. This library currently contains over 6000 articles, and more added everyday from historical archives.