Judge’s tentative ruling in Leah Remini lawsuit: David Miscavige, YOU ARE SERVED!

[David Miscavige and Judge Randolph Hammock]

See the update below.

Just last week, in Jane Doe 1’s lawsuit against Scientology, Judge Robert Broadbelt granted David Miscavige’s motion to quash his summons, telling Jane Doe that she’s going to have to try even harder to find the elusive Scientology leader before he is considered served and an official defendant in her case.

We pointed out at the time that this didn’t seem to bode well for Leah Remini, who is not only suing Scientology in a separate lawsuit, but is using the same attorneys and process servers and has even submitted the same reports from those process servers in her case that Jane Doe did in hers.

If those efforts weren’t good enough in Jane Doe 1’s case, would they also be deficient in Leah’s?

We were hoping to get an answer to that question today in a hearing scheduled in Judge Randolph Hammock’s courtroom, but then we noticed last night that once again, the judge posted a tentative ruling ahead of the hearing itself.

And that tentative ruling indicates that Judge Hammock is planning on doing the opposite of Judge Broadbelt, and he will tell David Miscavige that Leah has done enough to serve him and Miscavige will have to respond officially to Leah’s lawsuit within 30 days.

That’s kind of amazing, but once again we have to ask, will Judge Hammock actually make a ruling today, or will his tentative ruling, like a couple of others in this lawsuit, remain in limbo?

Well, setting aside that concern with Judge Hammock’s recent inability to make a decision, we want to turn to this tentative ruling, because Judge Hammock is literally ridiculing Miscavige and the arguments made by his attorney, Jeffrey Riffer.

After reviewing the facts, that Leah’s process servers left papers with various security guards at four different Church of Scientology addresses, Judge Hammock says that Miscavige’s motion complained that none of them were locations where Miscavige lived or worked, and that Leah’s team had not made “reasonably diligent” attempts to find the church leader.

“Now that the guffaws have subsided, the speciousness of that argument becomes readily apparent when one actually examines the facts,” Judge Hammock writes.

Seriously, he said that! (We told you that we like this judge.)

Two or three attempts to serve someone at a proper location is usually considered “reasonably diligent,” he says, but in this case…

Plaintiff attempted service at seven addresses, on multiple dates, believed to be affiliated with the Church and/or Miscavige. Plaintiff’s counsel has spent “nearly $10,000.00 thus far in [their] attempts to serve Miscavige.”

Admittedly, it is difficult to identify which of the numerous properties owned or operated by the Church is Miscavige’s “usual place of abode” or “usual place of business.” The difficulty in doing so comes from the Church’s use of gates, lawyers, and private security to obscure Miscavige’s whereabouts…

Under the circumstances, service on security guards — who were apparently in charge of the properties and could and did deny the process servers access to various Scientology properties — was sufficient to serve Miscavige. This cat-and-mouse-game has run its course.

Wow! How long have we been waiting for a judge in Los Angeles to say something like this? (A federal judge magistrate in Tampa said something similar a year ago and also ruled that Miscavige had been intentionally evading service.)

And so Judge Hammock — again, this is the tentative ruling and not yet official — rules that substitute service has occurred and Miscavige’s motion to quash is denied.

However, the judge isn’t done! He feels compelled to add this amazing coda to his ruling…

Concluding Observations

As this Court commented at the most recent hearing in this case, this motion should never have been filed. This Court had encouraged the lawyers for both sides to resolve the issue of service against Miscavige without the need for court intervention. Be that as it may, this Court recognizes that Miscavige certainly has the right to be served by proper process of law. Although we are well within the 21st century, these rather antiquated service laws still exist and must be enforced by the courts. So be it. Miscavige was, in fact, properly served.

But the arguments put forth by Miscavige, while mostly technical in nature, still must be reasonable. For example, to contend that Plaintiff has not made “reasonably diligent” efforts to serve him simply stretches one’s credulity.

It is simply time for Miscavige to simply step up, as a responsible member of our community, to generally appear in this case and defend himself against the serious allegations being made against him by the Plaintiff in this case. He is the apparent leader of a worldwide religious organization with considerable funds and support. He has (literally) teams of lawyers to defend him. Now is the time to utilize them to defend this case on its merits.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Oh wow, Jeffrey Riffer is going to blow a gasket. And Dave has to respond to Leah’s lawsuit!

That is, if Judge Hammock actually adopts this ruling today. Twice now, he has come to court with tentative rulings — one about removing some of Leah’s defamation claims, and another about keeping the Religious Technology Center in as a defendant — and then didn’t rule on them.

Will he finally adopt these tentative rulings, or will Scientology’s attorneys once again make so much noise that he’ll put off making another decision?

Well, there’s an additional wrinkle that came up last night: We noticed that today’s hearing had been taken off the docket, and we have been unable to get some indication of whether that’s significant or not. The tentative ruling is posted on the court’s website, and it says it’s for today’s hearing. But has today’s hearing been put off? We’re trying to find out, and we’ll let you know as soon as we find out.

What there’s no denying, however, is that Judge Randolph Hammock has had enough of Scientology’s games.

UPDATE: The hearing won’t be happening because Miscavige did accept service, but Judge Hammock had his tentative ruling posted anyway. How’s them apples, Dave?

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