Scientology wants large portion of 'Bixler' suit stricken — even before new version arrives

Scientology’s attorneys have thrown yet another curveball at Danny Masterson’s victims, who are suing the That ’70s Show actor and convicted serial rapist as well as the Church of Scientology for what they say has been years of harassment after coming forward to the LAPD with their allegations in 2016.

That lawsuit, known as Bixler v. Scientology, just recently got going again when Judge Upinder Kalra lifted the stay that had kept the 2019 case dormant while Masterson went through two criminal trials, culminating with his conviction on May 31 and his sentencing to 30 years to life in prison on September 7.

Even with the sentencing accomplished, Scientology still objected to the stay being lifted on the lawsuit, arguing in part that they had just learned that the plaintiffs are planning to file a new amended complaint which will, we assume, include updated allegations of intimidation and stalking which have occurred in the last couple of years.

So we’ve been waiting eagerly to see what those new allegations will be.

But even before the new amended complaint comes in (it will be the second amended complaint in the case), Scientology has now filed a motion to strike large portions of material from the first amended complaint, which was filed all the way back in February 2020.

Yes, more than three years after Masterson’s victims filed their first updated complaint, alleging that Scientology has relied on its “Fair Game” policies to stalk them, hack their electronics, and even poison their pets, Scientology now suddenly has a lot of problems with what they’re alleging.

Their beef comes down to two categories of things they don’t like in the 2020 first amended complaint.

1. All of the many references to Scientology’s “Fair Game” policies, which founder L. Ron Hubbard established in order to give his followers free reign to “destroy utterly” people who have been designated as enemies of the church.

2. Allegations about the rapes themselves, and about how Masterson’s victims — three of whom who were Scientologists at the time of the sexual assaults — were under instructions by Scientology not to go to law enforcement, and were punished by Scientology “ethics officers” for saying anything at all.

In regards to this second category of allegations, Scientology’s attorneys are arguing that any references to what occurred while the Jane Does were still Scientologists must be thrown out, because this lawsuit is only viable today because an appeals court found that the women could sue over their harassment as long as that harassment was going on after they had left the church.

If you remember, the Bixler lawsuit was forced into arbitration in December 2020 when the original judge, Judge Steven Kleifield, granted Scientology’s argument that the women had signed contracts while they were Scientologists which obliged them not to sue the church, but to take any grievances to Scientology’s own internal “religious arbitration.”

But in January 2022, a California appeals court reversed that ruling, saying that what the women were suing over — the stalking and intimidation that they’ve experienced since 2016 — should not be held to the contracts they signed as Scientologists because they had all left the church by then.

So now, Scientology is asking that references to, for example, Jane Doe 1 being told in 2003 that she couldn’t go to the LAPD by the church after her rape, should not be allowed in the lawsuit because she was still a Scientologist then.

As for the references to “Fair Game” that the church attorneys are asking to be stricken, they are arguing that even though these allegations are untrue (Scientology claims that Hubbard canceled the Fair Game policy in 1968), even if they were true they involve internal church doctrine and therefore cannot be judged by a civil court of law. Scientology’s First Amendment religious rights prevent that, they argue:

While all the allegations concerning the religious doctrine, beliefs, and practices of the Scientology religion are false, the alleged existence of a Church doctrine and the alleged commands of Scientology Scripture concern religious conduct and raise ecclesiastical issues. Any attempt to prove such allegations would necessarily “implicate resolution of ecclesiastical issues,” and therefore, under the Writ Opinion, these allegations cannot form the basis of Plaintiffs’ claims.

It’s interesting to go through and see which lines from the 2020 first amended complaint the Scientology attorneys want thrown out. But we have to wonder what the point of this exercise is, when just a couple of weeks ago the same attorneys were whining that the lawsuit should be kept on ice because a second amended complaint is about to be filed, making the previous one irrelevant.

We asked an attorney friend what he thought this was all about, and he answered: “Dev-T.”

That’s Scientology slang for wasting time, and he explained that Scientology will always look for any opportunity to clog the court docket with time-consuming nonsense that costs everyone time and money.

Well, that’s probably as good an explanation as any!

Judge Kalra set trial in the lawsuit for September 2025, but Scientology has asked for a hearing to address their motion to strike on November 22.

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