Talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael savored her victory Thursday in an invasion of privacy lawsuit against her, but the Church of Scientology member who sued Raphael vowed to continue her struggle. A Washtenaw County jury found that Raphael and her production company did not invade the privacy of Dorothy Dickerson of Albion. Nor did they violate the state's eavesdropping law by broadcasting a surreptitiously obtained tape of a conversation between Dickerson and her children, the jury decided. Dickerson, an instructor ...

Jury deliberations were to begin this morning in a lawsuit brought by an Ann Arbor Scientologist against television talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael over the airing of a secretly taped family conversation. After four weeks of testimony by dozens of witnesses, including Raphael and the plaintiff, Dorothy Jean Dickerson, attorneys Tuesday made closing arguments in a case that puts an individual's right to privacy against the public's right to know. Washtenaw Circuit Judge Melinda Morris was to give jury instructions ...

[...] Scientology decided that Casey Hill was its "Enemy" and set out to destroy him. It levelled false charges against him. It prosecuted him on those charges. It repeated those charges after a judge had found them groundless. It repeated allegations in its pleadings and in open court which it knew were lies. It made additional serious false accusations against Casey Hill. It attacked his veracity. It accused him of putting on a performance to improperly influence the jury. In summary, ...

Making her courtroom debut in Ann Arbor, Sally Jessy Raphael hosted the morning round of testimony Thursday, defending herself in a lawsuit over an edition of her talk show about the Church of Scientology. Raphael, in a taupe suit and her trademark red eyeglasses, nodded deferentially to the jury, as if it were an audience, and interrogated lawyers. Finally, Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Melinda Morris told her to knock it off. "Put yourself in the position of people you ask questions ...

At trial over Scientologist's suit, Sally Jessy Raphael testifies to defend herself and freedom of the press. Sally Jessy Raphael canceled her show today to testify in an Ann Arbor courtroom, saying she wants to defend the freedom of the press, but she also has to defend herself. The television talk show host is one of several defendants in a $72 million lawsuit brought by a member of the Church of Scientology who claimed Raphael's show maligned her and her faith. ...

Tabloid TV queen Sally Jessy Raphael, who peers through her trademark red eyeglasses and titillates talk-show audiences with tough questions, will be asked to answer some zingers herself today in Ann Arbor. Raphael is to testify in a high-profile, lawsuit stemming from an episode about the Church of Scientology. Church staffer Dorothy Dickerson, 61, of Albion claims Raphael invaded her privacy and caused her emotional distress in 1991, after a conversation between Dickerson and her children was secretly recorded by a ...

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Woman charges Sally Jessy Raphael's airing of a conversation filmed here violated her privacy. On a warm June Sunday two years ago, Dorothy Jean Dickerson was teaching a Sunday school class when she had a surprise visit from her two grown children. They walked over to a little park in downtown Ann Arbor and talked about her religious life and how she had been out of touch with her children. The conversation, part of the children's desperate attempt to get their ...

Atkinson-baker & Associates, Inc., Plaintiff-appellant, v. James G. Kolts, in His Official Capacity, Defendant-appellee United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. - 7 F.3d 1452 Submitted Oct. 20, 1993*.Decided Oct. 28, 1993 —– Michael T. Stoller, Besbris, Hollis & Stoller, Los Angeles, CA, for plaintiff-appellant. Terree A. Bowers, U.S. Atty., Leon W. Weidman, George H. Wu, Asst. U.S. Attys., Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before: BEEZER, KOZINSKI, and ...

When the IRS granted tax exemptions to the church, it did so mainly on the basis of what Scientology did with its money. WASHINGTON — It might be easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for the IRS to judge the merits of a religion. So when it comes to considering tax exemptions, the agency sticks to what it knows: money. For the Church of Scientology, which won a series of tax exemptions earlier this ...

At issue is an ordinance on solicitations. At stake is residents' security — or religious freedom. CLEARWATER — The city is still fighting the Church of Scientology. Despite a strongly worded recent court decision in favor of Scientology, city commissioners have decided to continue the decade-long legal battle over a rule that would let the city police the organization's financial records. The commissioners reached their decision at a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Alan Zimmet, a lawyer who attended the meeting, said Wednesday. ...

CLEARWATER — City commissioners will appeal a controversial ordinance to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary, to ensure they can enforce it, the city's attorney on the case said Wednesday. "They [city commissioners] are resolved to pursue forward and fight," said attorney Alan Zimmet, who is handling the appeal. But further appeals of the ordinance, which would require churches to disclose how they spend money donated by church members, would be foolish, said Richard Haworth, spokesman for the Church of Scientology. ...

The Church of Scientology, having just won tax-exempt status, after a bitter, decades-long battle with the Internal Revenue Service, is now ready to take on media critics in a major promotional campaign to try to mend its public image. Early this month, the Internal Revenue Service notified 30 entities within the Church of Scientology hierarchy that they would be recognized as tax-exempt organizations, whose donation income isn't subject to federal income tax. Church officials hailed the decision, saying it would allow ...

No one would ever accuse the Church of Scientology of not being vigilant about its press coverage, especially when it comes to its famous Hollywood members. One of the latest cases in point was the 2,000-word response in Premiere magazine after a recent story about Scientology's ties to the entertainment industry. This was followed by the publication of a 16-page booklet dubbed "Premiere Propaganda." "Premiere's reporter was not interested in writing a fair story on the church. Instead he went out ...

The IRS' exemption of the Church of Scientology may doom the county's effort to collect a tax bill exceeding $7.9-million. CLEARWATER — Pinellas County's property tax lawsuit against the Church of Scientology is badly wounded by an Internal Revenue Service ruling that exempts the organization from federal income taxes, Property Appraiser Jim Smith said Wednesday. The two sides are headed back to mediation that likely will result in many, if not all, of the Scientology properties being removed from the property ...