Plaintiffs in Scientology trafficking case ask permission for appeal after getting derailed

Attorneys for Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter have made their first filing to Judge Thomas Barber’s court since the shocking and disappointing March 31 decision by the judge derailing their lawsuit and granting Scientology’s motions for arbitration.

Saying his hands were tied, Judge Barber ruled that employment contracts signed by the former Sea Org workers obliged them not to sue the church in court, but to submit their grievances to Scientology’s own internal brand of “religious arbitration,” which requires a panel of three arbitrators who must be church members in good standing.

Only after such an arbitration is completed and accepted by the court could the three plaintiffs then appeal his decision.

But Valeska’s attorney Manuel Dominguez says that could literally take years, and so he’s asking the judge to grant a motion allowing an interlocutory appeal.

Dominguez identifies numerous issues in Barber’s decision, saying that they raise questions that the Eleventh Circuit should examine now, and not years down the road…

An appeal now would prevent a scenario in which the parties fully litigate the case in arbitration and then, following likely years of arbitration and the ultimate issuance of an award, the Eleventh Circuit decides that the case never should have been arbitrated, either because the Court should have decided the duress and fraud in the execution issues or because the arbitration violated Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights. The parties would then be forced to start at the beginning and litigate those issues in court. Guidance from the Eleventh Circuit on whether this case should be in arbitration is thus important to avoid potentially litigating the case twice.

Moreover, if the Eleventh Circuit does ultimately conclude after the arbitration that forcing Plaintiffs to participate in Scientology’s dispute resolution proceedings violates their First Amendment rights, the violation would have already occurred. Thus, review by the Eleventh Circuit now is necessary to ensure that Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights are fully protected.

In short, a decision that produces a “surprising and shocking” result, based on a body of law that is “not a model of clarity,” and that the Court reached because it believes that its “hands are tied” is exactly the sort of decision that is ripe for interlocutory appeal. As such, this Court should certify questions under 28 U.S.C. 1292(b) on both issues.

What Dominguez doesn’t mention there, however, is that the Eleventh Circuit has already ruled on a similar case involving Scientology’s religious arbitration, the Garcia case that took place earlier in the same courtroom in Tampa.

It seems a shame that these plaintiffs, who alleged such shocking and degrading treatment as Sea Org workers on Scientology’s ship the Freewinds, should have to ask Barber permission to appeal, and then even if he agrees, to go to an Eleventh Circuit that has already sided with Scientology on this issue. We’ll let you know what Barber decides. 

Meanwhile, in the Danny Masterson retrial yesterday, there was quite an odd collection of things happening in and out of the courtroom, which we addressed with our end-of-the-day video.

We’ll only add that if the STAND League’s Eva Mahoney returns to court today, and sits quietly in press row like she did yesterday, she should simply be ignored.

The STAND League is Scientology’s fake grass-roots organization that attacks former Scientologists and journalists in the church’s grand tradition. It has zero influence, and its social media feeds have followers in the tens. It is seriously best just to ignore it completely.

We heard Mahoney say yesterday that her clerical friend would not be coming back, and so we don’t expect to see him again. But if he does, as long as he remains quiet and respectful in the courtroom as he did yesterday, then he’s not worth troubling over.

His name, it turns out, is N. J. “Skip” L’Heureux, Jr., a longtime shill for Scientology, which puts on “interfaith” events with numerous jackleg ministers as PR control.

Stefani Hutchison let us know she had an interesting encounter with him in 2019.

L’Heureux wrote a letter supporting Scientology to Bob Iger at the Disney Company in 2019 complaining about Leah’s show on A&E.

I actually called him to ask him about it. The conversation was very short.

I asked him if he was aware of what Scientology actually teaches and he responded: “I am somewhat familiar with them, but that is somewhat beside the point. They are a religious group and are entitled to exercise their faith as they see fit. And the attacks by the television programs are just unconscionable.”

I responded; “Can I ask, and I am asking you this respectfully, sir, can I ask why you believe The Aftermath is, why do you believe that’s an attack?”

Reverend L’Heureux: “I’ve watched several of the episodes and I’m very familiar with the anti-cult movement going back to the 70’s. And this is a page out of that playbook. You gang up on a group, you make accusations, you get people to agree with those accusations, put ‘em out there so everybody does it, you know, and the accusations you are making are not really substantiated. In any event I don’t think this conversation is going to go very far. But understand I did write that letter and I stand by it.”

Click and he hung up on me.

Excellent work, Stefani.

No doubt the STAND League sent Eva and Skip down to watch proceedings so they could then produce fiery blog posts about their outrage at how Scientology is being treated.

Seriously, people, just let them.

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