MIAMI — Rosa Hernandez remembers this about her dentist: He sure could close a deal. She and her husband, Mauricio, had gone to Dr. Rene Piedra with a host of concerns. She had sensitive gums and a paralyzing fear of dentists. He needed bonding. Piedra, dressed in a business suit instead of a dental coat, showed them computerized models of how he would fix their teeth. He offered them a discount because they came in together, and helped them with a ...

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (CN) — A father claims Narconon International and the Association for Living and Education International are fronts for Scientology, and that he paid them $35,500 for "essentially worthless treatment" for his drug-addicted son. He says the groups run rehab programs "to enrich themselves and to provide a recruit base for the Church of Scientology rather than to provide competent treatment for chemical dependency." David Compton sued the two companies, and Narconon Vista, alleging fraud and breach of contract. ...

How is this for a shocking graphic to start a post? It’s my creation…. well, mostly. I stole it from CCHR. It’s here for shock value, so don’t take it too seriously, okay? Approximately 9 months ago (or so — I’m bad with time, so take that for what it is worth), I approached Marty about writing an entry for his blog. My angle? Simple — hardcore critic — the guy who did the $cientology-KILLS website and T-shirts with OT-III, supports ...

TAMPA — An unusual impasse between two area judges came to a close after a hearing Tuesday in federal court. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday clarified an order he issued last week, saying he never meant for it to stop Pinellas Senior Circuit Judge Robert E. Beach from withdrawing from a case involving the Church of Scientology. Merryday said he issued the order only to prevent Beach from fining and suspending attorney Ken Dandar, who Beach determined had defied him. ...

Usually it's the lawyers who tussle back and forth in court. But a dispute involving the Church of Scientology has two of the area's most notable judges locking horns, each saying the other stepped outside his jurisdiction. Pinellas judge Robert E. Beach has filed a motion in federal court in Tampa saying U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday erred last week when he "permanently enjoined" Beach from carrying out sanctions against lawyer Ken Dandar, who is challenging Scientology. Merryday's order appeared ...

TAMPA — A federal judge has ordered a Pinellas judge and the Church of Scientology to halt their efforts to severely punish Ken Dandar, a Tampa lawyer who is taking the church to court for the second time in his career. The action Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday involves Pinellas Judge Robert Beach, who has said he intends to impose a $130,000 fine on Dandar and possibly suspend his license to practice law. The reason: Dandar allegedly reneged on ...

TAMPA — In a rare clash between courts, a federal judge today said he will order a state judge not to interfere with a lawyer's handling of a federal case involving the Church of Scientology. A visibly irritated U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday granted a motion by lawyer Kennan Dandar, who is representing the estate of Kyle Thomas Brennan in a wrongful death suit against the church. Merryday told Scientology attorneys they "have forced my hand on this issue." The ...

Don’t have a cow, man! Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson in the animated series The Simpsons, has been slapped with a lawsuit by an insurance company claiming that her ex-fiancé Stephen Brackett owes them money for which she is now responsible. DOCUMENTS: See The Lawsuit Filed Against Nancy Cartwright According to the lawsuit obtained exclusively by RadarOnline.com, Stephen’s construction company, Brackett Construction, entered into a contract with Off Vine Restaurant in Los Angeles in 2009 — a project ...

The Church of Scientology is practicing its aggressive form of litigation management against a longtime legal protagonist who has twice represented clients whose relatives died while in the care of church members. Lawyers for the church are using a secret settlement agreement in a state case to try to remove Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar from a federal case they claim has no merit. They persuaded a state judge to order Dandar off the federal case. Trouble is, the federal case is ...

TAMPA — Scientology's most vocal local critic, Ken Dandar, faced disaster. A circuit judge had found him in contempt of court this week and assessed a judgment of $130,000 — to be paid to the Church of Scientology. Dandar might lose his car. He might even lose his law license. All of that, he told a federal judge Friday, because Dandar isn't bowing out of a federal case against the church. But the judge may have given Dandar a reprieve. And ...

LARGO — One of the Church of Scientology's most vocal critics, Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar, is in a pickle. Six years ago, he settled a wrongful death case against the church on behalf of the family of Lisa McPherson, who died in 1995 after 17 days in the care of church members in Clearwater. Part of the settlement agreement, approved by a judge in state court, required Dandar to never again represent anyone suing Scientology. But last year, Dandar took on ...

Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith, who died yesterday aged 86, was a charismatic television reporter who switched to politics and enjoyed a 41-year career in the Commons. [...] Johnson Smith, who was later to launch a successful campaign on behalf of haemophiliacs who had been given infected blood, fought a long battle to curb the Church of Scientology, which had its headquarters near East Grinstead, in 1970 enduring a six-week libel case before a jury vindicated his stance. [...]

The Church of Scientology won a major victory in federal court when U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer granting summary judgment in two major lawsuits alleging labor law violations, human trafficking and forced abortions. The opinion raises some interesting questions over the deference shown by courts in such disputes. Two of the litigants, Claire and Marc Headley, detailed how they allegedly worked as virtual slaves for Scientology as part of the organization’s super secret Sea Organization. They left Scientology in 2005. ...

The Church of Scientology won an important victory in federal court Thursday when a judge dismissed two lawsuits that accused the church of labor law violations, human trafficking and forced abortions. Claire and Marc Headley, who left Scientology in 2005, said the church controlled them with threats of harsh punishment and other tactics that prevented them from leaving the Sea Organization, Scientology's religious order. But U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer ruled that the Sea Org is protected by the First ...

[...] 72. Guilt, shame, and separation constituted the social and psychological force that induced sustained, long-term commitment. Physical force, physical abuse and the fear of even greater abuse if one tried to escape were powerful deterrents to any attempts to leave. It could easily be argued that these coercions could have been sufficient to keep anyone from ever making an attempt to get out. There was, though, another level of forces exerted by Scientology that made leaving even more costly – ...

Laura Dieckman was just 12 when her parents let her leave home to work full time for Scientology's religious order, the Sea Organization. At 16, she married a co-worker. At 17, she was pregnant. She was excited to start a family, but she said Sea Org supervisors pressured her to have an abortion. She was back at work the following day. Claire Headley joined at 16, married at 17 and was pregnant at 19. She said Sea Org supervisors threatened strenuous ...

Former Scientologists Claire and Marc Headley are suing the Church of Scientology in separate actions in federal court in Los Angeles. Marc Headley, 37, alleges he was the victim of unfair business practices, labor law violations and forced labor, or human trafficking, during his 15 years in the church's Sea Organization. Claire Headley, 35, alleges the church forced her to have two abortions during her 13 years in the Sea Org. She also claims working conditions at the church's international management ...

[... Trustee seeks leave to amend the Adversary Complaints to include more detailed information regarding Keene and Blyskal’s involvement in a massive scheme to defraud dental patients and transfer significant sums of money to Church of Scientology ("CAS") or CAS related entities. The Trustee through proper investigation and analysis of various documents was able to unearth further information relating to this scheme. ...] —– UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA MIAMI DIVISION www.flsb.usc0urts.g0v In re: Chapter 7 RENE PIEDRA ...

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The daughter of the president of the Church of Scientology in Australia is speaking out for the first time about past treatment of children within the church. In an exclusive interview with Lateline, Scarlett Hanna has described Scientology as a toxic organisation and says that many of those who've grown up in the church are damaged. Scarlett Hanna talks of children being deprived of contact with parents and communal living conditions where 25 children lived in one unit. ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology leader David Miscavige (l.) is being accused of gossiping about Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson after snooping in her confidential confessional file.] The Church of Scientology is bringing down the hammer on a renegade member who alleges leader David Miscavige loves to gossip about his star parishioners. Former high-ranking member Amy Scobee claims in her just-out book, "Scientology: Abuse at the Top," that Miscavige and other officials "snooped" in confidential confessional files - a charge vehemently ...

Inside Scientology, superstar Tom Cruise is regarded as its most dedicated follower. The mystery is why he never joined its most elite unit. Now, a former top-ranking defector who was just a teenager when recruited into Scientology says she knows why. Amy Scobee claims she knows the truth about how the cult controls celebrities, the way it handled Tom Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman and tells eyewitness accounts of what happens when its leader loses it. She began life and work ...

TAMPA - A lawyer suing the Church of Scientology has filed a motion asking to withdraw from the wrongful death case – but he doesn't really mean it. Kennan Dandar says the state judge who ordered him to withdraw doesn't have jurisdiction in federal court. He also says he doesn't want to abandon his client, who blames the church for her son's death. The highly unusual motion is rooted in the longstanding animus between the church and Dandar. The order to ...

Amy Scobee is a former high-ranking Scientologist. She's about to publish a book about her time with the Church, which contains some interesting details about Tom Cruise. Last week, Cruise's lawyer has sent her an angry letter, countering the claims. Scobee, who'd been with the Church since age 14 and used to work at the LA Celebrity Centre, has spoken out before—most recently during Anderson Cooper's CNN Scientology expose. Next month, her book, Scientology: Abuse at the Top, will be (self-?) ...

[Unofficial English translation by Anonymous of an article in Itialian entitled, "Le falsità del comunicato stampa di Scientology in merito alla richiesta di risarcimento danni a Maria Pia Gardini"] [Quoted] you can read the press release of Scientology, my answer [follows each quoted passage]. The National Church of Scientology of Italy has brought proceedings against Mrs. Maria Pia Di Gasparro Gardini for damages totaling two million euros. Scientology forgot to state that this is what they are asking for ...

LOS ANGELES – A federal judge has dismissed part of a lawsuit brought against the Church of Scientology by a woman who alleged she worked 100-hour weeks for almost no pay for years while a member of Scientology's elite inner corps. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer issued a written order late Friday that dismissed the wage claims portion of Claire Headley's lawsuit. The judge did not address two other causes of action: allegations that the church coerces members of the inner ...

Scientology is suing Maria Pia Gardini for 2 million euros and has cowardly decided not to face off against the publisher, Edizioni Paoline, or to sue the journalist co-author of her books, Albert Laggia. The persecutory intentions of the well-known psycho-sect, which is at the center of controversy and trials around the world, are clear. In the citation [dated March 30, 2010 and available in Italian in a PDF file], Maria Pia Gardini is accused of having "behaved and spoken on ...