Scientology to Valeska Paris: That Supreme Court ruling isn’t what you say it is

[Valeska Paris and David Miscavige, dueling over the Supreme Court]

On June 26, we told you that the plaintiffs in a federal labor trafficking lawsuit against Scientology — Australian residents Valeska Paris, and Gawain and Laura Baxter — had asked a Tampa court to reconsider a ruling that will force the case into Scientology’s “religious arbitration.”

Valeska’s attorneys pointed to a May 23 opinion from the US Supreme Court which they say addresses some key concerns that Judge Thomas Barber expressed before he reluctantly ruled that the former Sea Org employees were obliged by contracts they had signed not to sue the church but instead to submit to Scientology’s brand of arbitration.

Valeska and the Baxters said those contracts were signed under duress, but Judge Barber had cited an existing 1967 Supreme Court ruling — Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co. — which indicated that he couldn’t consider whether there was duress involved, that it was something only the arbitrator could decide.

But now, Valeska’s attorneys argued, the new May 23 ruling from the Supreme Court, Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski, overturned that idea, and should allow Judge Barber to consider whether the workers had been under duress when they signed the contracts. And because of that basic change in the law, they argued, Judge Barber should reconsider his ruling.

This week Scientology’s attorneys responded (in their usual angry style), arguing that Valeska’s attorneys are misrepresenting the May 23 Supreme Court ruling, which only applies when there are multiple, conflicting contracts being considered, and that is not the situation in this case…

The Suski rule concerns conflicting forum-selection clauses and constitutes a challenge specific to the arbitration provision. It has no bearing on the facts of this case, and in no way overrules or amends the well-settled Prima Paint doctrine that fraud and duress challenges directed to the underlying contract as a whole are heard by the arbitrator.

Scientology’s response also got snippy about Valeska’s attorneys referring to what Valerie Haney has been going through in Los Angeles, with her ongoing “arbitration” unfolding in days of stunning abuse.

Rather than address the facts of Suski, Plaintiffs use their Motion as another vehicle to propagate false claims against Defendants in a transparent attempt to bias the Court. None of what Plaintiffs say about their claims or the utterly irrelevant Court ordered Haney arbitration ongoing in Los Angeles is appropriate for a motion for reconsideration. Nor is it remotely truthful.

Meanwhile, David Miscavige is also hopping mad.

In a separate document filed on behalf of Miscavige and written by his attorney, former Florida Bar president William Schifino, Miscavige joined the response of the other Scientology entities, and also denied what Valeska’s attorneys had pointed out in a footnote: That the arbitration ruling really doesn’t apply to him, and the lawsuit should be proceeding against Miscavige even if it’s held up against the other defendants.

Schifino points out that Barber’s ruling for arbitration had found for “the Church and its related entities and individuals,” and it’s simply incorrect to say that Miscavige wasn’t included in that ruling. And then once again we see how Dave and his attorneys love using the time he wastes evading service to his advantage. This is really slick:

First, Mr. Miscavige could not have joined in the motions to compel because they were briefed well before Mr. Miscavige was deemed served. Indeed, they were briefed and argued before Plaintiffs even filed proof of service with the Secretary of State. More significantly, this Court issued its Order deeming Mr. Miscavige served moments before issuing an Order staying these proceedings, ordering Plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims against the entities and “related individuals,” and administratively closing the case. In short, since this Court first ruled that Mr. Miscavige was a party to this case, he had neither the ability nor need to move to compel arbitration — it had already compelled arbitration, and this case was closed.

Once again, Dave is using the time he wasted hiding from process servers as a leg up in court. “We were hiding from you when you made that decision about arbitration, Judge, so you can’t hold that against us and assume that we wouldn’t have wanted to be part of the arbitration motions too.”

It’s annoying to see Miscavige sandbagging a court like this again, but will these arguments work with Judge Barber?

The judge did seem very unhappy that the Prima Paint precedent kept him from considering whether these former Sea Org workers had been coerced into signing contracts they never even read. Will he agree with Valeska’s attorneys that the new Suski ruling overturns that and allows him to take a new look at this situation? Or will he agree with Scientology that the Suski ruling is really about a different kind of situation involving multiple, conflicting contracts? And will he also agree with Miscavige that, even though he has been officially named a defendant in this case, the arbitration ruling also applies to him and the case can’t proceed against him as if it didn’t?

We really don’t know. And we don’t even know how long it will take for Judge Barber to respond. But we’ll keep an eye out.

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Bonus items from our tipsters

Scientology email:

“How do you bring happiness to a world that, at times, seems so unhappy?”

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