Court showdown over Scientology leader David Miscavige evading service coming next week
On Friday, we brought you up to date on Scientology leader David Miscavige’s attempts to keep himself out of Leah Remini’s lawsuit.
Once again, Dave is dodging process servers while he has his tetchy attorney Jeffrey Riffer complaining that Leah isn’t looking in the right places.
We explained that the few public records available do suggest that Leah is looking in the right place by having her process servers search for Dave at the Hollywood Guaranty Building (6331 Hollywood Boulevard and 1710 Ivar Avenue), and that Riffer is just playing games.
We also told you that we’re looking forward to a hearing on February 14, when Judge Randolph Hammock will have a chance to bring some common sense to this bizarre situation.
However, we wanted to point out that we don’t have to wait that long to see how Dave’s latest attempts at evasion play out in court.
Next Thursday, on February 8, the question of whether Dave has been properly served will be coming up in Jane Doe 1’s forced marriage lawsuit against Miscavige, Scientology, and Sea Org recruiter Gavin Potter.
In fact, Jane Doe 1 and Leah are sharing some of the same attorneys, and have also been sharing some of the same process servers. So the hearing on February 8, before Judge Robert Broadbelt III, could be an interesting preview to what happens a week later in Leah’s case.
Once again, the attorneys trying to serve Miscavige explain in a document they filed this week that they have gone well above the minimum state requirements for “substitute service,” but that it’s plain that Miscavige is purposely trying to evade being found, and is gaming the system.
The multitude of documented service attempts upon Miscavige, and the numerous individuals involved in protecting him from service, leaves zero doubt that Miscavige is not only aware of this lawsuit, but is actively thwarting his legal obligation to play a role in it. The service-dodging of Miscavige and his agents in this matter is a continuation of his longstanding practice of electing procedural gamesmanship over participation in litigation.
The attorneys also point to the Baxter labor trafficking case in Florida which was filed by Gawain and Laura Baxter as well as Valeska Paris, who were successful proving that they had done enough to serve Miscavige by substitute service.
Jane Doe’s attorneys point out that they have done the same things Valeska’s legal team did in that case…
Indeed, efforts very similar to those made by Jane Doe in this case were deemed proper substitute service against Miscavige himself in Baxter v. Miscavige….The court in that case noted that the plaintiffs showed sufficient due diligence to effectuate substitute service where their efforts included: hiring a private investigation firm, searching public and court records, contacting Miscavige’s counsel, and making over twenty attempts to serve Miscavige over the course of several months (all efforts that Jane Doe has made in this case).
Jane Doe’s legal team attach hundreds of pages of exhibits which refer to Dave’s speeding tickets in Florida in 1991 and 1995, and to business listings for the Religious Technology Center in order to show that yes, the HGB is the most logical place to serve Dave.
And in those hundreds of pages are lengthy searches on Dave’s connections to various Scientology locations and Scientology employees. And, to our delight, one of those searches even turned up an email address for the diminutive Captain of the Sea Org.
So we dropped him a line, asking him about his apparent decision to move Shelly up to Petrolia.
We’ll let you know if Dave gets back to us.
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The law goes not apply to elite cowards like David Miscavige. He has billions of dollars to hire the best lawyers in the world to make sure justice is not served.
"We’ll let you know if Dave gets back to us." That never gets old or out of order. Schrodinger's COB can be found only under select rocks that have been cleaned of SPs and PTSers. Otherwise the unwashed would be struck blind by COB's brilliance. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Corporations are required to publish their mailing addresses so things like summons can be served. So serve the bastard already!