We want to caution you that this is a very minor update we are telling you about today in the Baxter v. Scientology labor trafficking lawsuit.
But it contains evidence of Scientology leader David Miscavige throwing another fit, so for that reason we thought you’d want to know about it.
Miscavige, the irritable head honcho of L. Ron Hubbard’s creation who has now been in charge of the operation longer than Hubbard ever was, finds himself fighting mad over being named a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed last April by former Sea Org workers Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter.
On Valentine’s Day, federal Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed ruled that Miscavige has been evading service of the lawsuit, and she declared him served by substitute service and an official defendant in the case. She gave him three weeks to make an official answer to the suit itself.
But that deadline has been put on hold since Miscavige filed an objection to her ruling with District Judge Thomas Barber.
We have already told you that Miscavige is objecting to Sneed’s ruling by making the astounding argument that he personally does no business in Florida and so he shouldn’t be included in a lawsuit based there.
Last week, Valeska’s attorneys responded to Miscavige’s objection with some pretty convincing evidence that Miscavige does indeed do business in the Sunshine State. Specifically, they attached exhibits showing that a Tampa Bay Times article by reporter Tracey McManus presented proof that Miscavige is personally lobbying Clearwater officials about Scientology real estate deals. And they also attached an exhibit from Scientology’s social media feeds showing Miscavige presiding over the New Year’s event at the Fort Harrison Hotel in a flier that was used to get Scientologists around the world down to their local org to watch video of the man at work.
Well, Miscavige is apparently blowing a gasket about this, and had his attorney file an angry set of arguments in reply. Oh wait, no, he can’t do that. So instead he had his attorney ask permission to file a 7-page response, because, “Plaintiffs cite several cases, attach new exhibits, and make new arguments that Mr. Miscavige requests an opportunity to briefly address. Plaintiffs’ Response also misstates the law and inaccurately characterizes the record.”
Yes, we would love to see Miscavige’s attorneys whine about Tracey’s article or about that New Year’s flier, but Judge Barber on Friday put the kibosh on that and denied his request.
Judge Barber already has enough paper from both sides to rule on Miscavige’s objection, and doesn’t need another bleating rant from the diminutive leader’s legal squad.
Like we said, it’s just a small update, but a fun one. We now wait for Judge Barber to issue his ruling on Miscavige’s objection, as well as another decision on Scientology’s motions asking to derail the lawsuit into “religious arbitration.”
If we had to lay down a bet, we’d wager that Judge Barber is going to deny Miscavige’s objection and keep him in the lawsuit as a defendant. But we think it’s much harder to handicap the arbitration issue, and we just don’t know how the court is going to rule on that question.
So, we’ll just keep waiting.
John Oliver with the zinger
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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I love John Oliver so much!
John Oliver thank you!