CONFIRMED: David Boies firm now represents Jane Doe 2 & 3 in Scientology civil lawsuit

[Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Danny Masterson]

Two weeks ago, we told you that we had confirmed something we’ve suspected for months, that high-profile litigator David Boies was interested in getting in on the action of suing the Church of Scientology.

We had received an acknowledgment from his firm that it was now representing some of Danny Masterson’s accusers for purposes of protecting their rights during Masterson’s criminal trial.

But we figured this was only part of the story, and that the Boies firm was actually going to be taking over representing those accusers in their civil lawsuit against Masterson and the Church of Scientology.

Last night, we received confirmation from the firm that this is, in fact, the case.

“I can confirm that myself, John Kucera, and Simon Leen of our LA Office have been retained to represent Jane Doe 2, Jane Doe 3, Jane Doe 3’s husband, and Ms. Riales in the civil lawsuit,” said attorney Alison Anderson of the Boies Schiller Flexner firm in an email to us.

The civil lawsuit we’re talking about is separate from the criminal rape prosecution of Masterson that is going on right now in Los Angeles and that will begin its third day of jury deliberations this morning. The lawsuit actually predates the criminal charges that were filed against Masterson in June 2020, accusing him of forcibly raping three women who are going by the names Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2, and Jane Doe 3.

In August 2019 those same three women, along with Jane Doe 3’s husband Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and another woman, Bobette Riales, filed their lawsuit against Masterson and the Church of Scientology for harassment and stalking. The suit accuses Masterson and the church of disrupting their lives since the women came forward with their rape allegations to the LAPD in late 2016. They are not suing over the rape allegations themselves, but over what they characterize as an ongoing harassment campaign that has included the poisoning of their pets and even a house being set on fire.

When the lawsuit was filed, the five plaintiffs were represented by a nationally-known legal team that was based in Philadelphia. But after the lawsuit was derailed by Scientology motions for arbitration and then restored by a stunning appeals court ruling in January, Jane Doe 1 decided to go her own way and hired Brad Edwards, an attorney known for taking on billionaire predator Jeffrey Epstein.

We had heard that the remaining plaintiffs were similarly looking to change lawyers, and that the Boies firm was interested. And now it’s confirmed that Jane Doe 2, Jane Doe 3, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and Bobette Riales will be represented by the Boies firm in the lawsuit.

The suit is currently on hold while the criminal case is going on, but it’s expected to resume on December 13. Scientology has already indicated that it plans to file an anti-SLAPP motion at that point.

The civil lawsuit seemingly received a huge boost when it was revealed on November 8 that Lisa Marie Presley was prepared to testify in the criminal case that she had been asked by Scientology to dissuade Jane Doe 1 from going to the LAPD in 2004, evidence of the kind of interference in law enforcement that the lawsuit alleges. We’ll be very interested to find out how the plaintiffs can take advantage of that revelation as the civil lawsuit resumes.

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Yesterday’s wrap-up of day 2 of deliberation

Again the Danny Masterson jury left us hanging after another day of deliberations. But at least Mark Bunker saved us from a complete washout. We released our end-of-the-day video to everyone here at Substack, but we’re linking to it here in case you haven’t seen it. And here’s also the version at our YouTube channel.

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