Scientology wants more days of ‘arbitration’ but Valerie Haney tells judge what’s going on

On April 26, Valerie Haney gave Underground Bunker readers an exclusive account of the two additional days of “religious arbitration” that Scientology put her through in February, which is now a total of five days that she has endured, with no end in sight.

On Wednesday, there’s a hearing scheduled in the courtroom of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gail Killefer that was supposed to be a post-arbitration discussion of how the Scientology proceeding had gone. But before Scientology asks for even more time for the arbitration to go on, Valerie’s attorneys yesterday filed a 31-page report of what she went through in February, and they are asking Judge Killefer to set an end date to the arbitration so that Scientology cannot simply continue it indefinitely.

Valerie filed her lawsuit in 2019, alleging kidnapping, stalking, harassment, and libel. But a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 2020 ruled that because Valerie had signed an exit agreement that contained an arbitration clause when she left her job, she was obliged not to sue but instead submit to what Scientology was calling “arbitration,” but was actually a form of founder L. Ron Hubbard’s instructions for a sort of court martial called a “committee of evidence.”

The only previous court-ordered arbitration in Scientology history took place in 2017 with Luis and Rocio Garcia, and it lasted only a single day.

But without explaining why, Scientology has put Valerie through five days of punishing humiliation so far, parading “witnesses” who have screamed at her and called her a liar about things that have nothing to do with the claims in her lawsuit, and all while Valerie is not allowed to have an attorney or a smartphone with her, and she is not allowed to have a transcript except for what she can scribble down herself in handwritten notes.

If you read our interview with her in April, you will find the description provided by her attorney Graham Berry in this new document very familiar, and we’re going to quote it at length.

Scientology is asking for five more days of this one-sided star chamber, probably in August, and with no guarantee that it will complete the proceeding. But before Judge Killefer grants Scientology more time for that to happen, Valerie’s attorneys want her to know what’s been going on. Here’s a lengthy portion of the document they submitted yesterday, describing what Valerie was subjected to in February…

II. THE CONDUCT OF THE FEBRUARY 20-21 ARBITRATION SESSION

…Plaintiff was again subjected to an egregiously unjust, unconscionable, and fundamentally flawed forced “arbitration” process which deprived her of basic due process rights. Forced to endure this so-called “religious arbitration,” she was denied the opportunity to review the critical documents that the arbitration panel was scrutinizing. Initially, the Scientology ‘arbitration’ panel attempted to dispute what Plaintiff had described in her October 24, 2023, ‘Post Arbitration Conference’ Statement before returning to the Plaintiff’s “Ethics” and “Pre-Clear” (PC) folders. These folders were housed in at least seven banker’s boxes, containing hundreds if not thousands of pages in each banker’s box.

Moreover specifically, as the Committee was going through box after box of the Plaintiff’s “Ethics Folders” they informed her that she could not have access to any of them. This meant Plaintiff was forced to read hundreds if not thousands of pages in front of the arbitration panel. Two of the ‘arbitrators’ are also “fact” witnesses as they were two of Plaintiff’s abusers while she was a member of the Scientology group. During this forced “religious arbitration,” Plaintiff was compelled to relive traumatic experiences and to disclose deeply personal information, all without the benefit of prior document review. The panel’s refusal to allow Plaintiff access to these documents not only obstructed her ability to prepare an adequate defense but also highlighted the biased and prejudiced nature of the entire “arbitration” proceeding. In addition to the documents mentioned above, the Committee also reviewed the “contracts” Plaintiff had to sign. Plaintiff was forced to sign many of these documents while she was a child (under the age of 18). During the time several of these documents were signed, Plaintiff was working over 100 hours per week in what would normally be labelled as “involuntary servitude.” One clear example of this injustice occurred when Plaintiff was a young teenager and coerced into joining Scientology’s Sea Organization. She was also pressured to sign several so-called contracts including the Sea Organization’s “Billion Year” employment contract. Accordingly, under any other circumstances than those herein, the Plaintiff would be permitted to disaffirm and cancel those documents upon the ground of incapacity.

Moreover, without the authorization of Plaintiff, Defendants had obtained thousands of personal photographs and several videos that they had refused to return to her. These included pictures of Plaintiff’s childhood, engagement, wedding, honeymoon, other private and personal photos that the Plaintiff never had posted to social media or given to others. The Committee spent hours examining all of these personal photos before putting them away again and then cruelly refusing to let Plaintiff have them back. This included going through a thumb-drive that contained several hours of video content of the Plaintiff, some of which the Plaintiff had never seen before and which she had no opportunity to review beforehand. This was all presented by the Committee without any copies being provided to Plaintiff. Some of these involved the many years that Plaintiff had worked closely with David Miscavige (Scientology’s managing-agent) and his wife Shelly (before she allegedly ‘disappeared’ to a secret location in 2005).

And so it went on and on with documents relating to the Plaintiff being placed in Scientology “conditions” of “treason, doubt, enemy, liability, confusion, danger, annoyance, bad indicators,” and “knowledge reports” submitted about her, “Commendations” she received, “Security Checks” (interrogations”) she had to endure, and “Fitness Boards” that were also convened regarding her. These are all non-arbitration terms that Scientologists use. It is important to emphasize that that Scientologists can use whatever terms they wish; however, Plaintiff has not been a Scientologist for at least eight years and so she should be afforded regular court and due process rather than being subjected to the language and procedures of a religion that she is no longer a member of.

As with all Sea Organization members, Scientology confiscated and held the Plaintiff’s passport so the Committee also dealt with an unsuccessful request that Plaintiff had made in May 2016 for the return of her passport. The Committee also endeavored that to establish that the Plaintiff’s very limited access to the Internet, landline, and cell phones was not heavily filtered (by the Scientology “net nanny” program), restricted and monitored; but then they proceeded to show Plaintiff records of each and every time she searched anything on the Internet, how long she was on any given website, and every entry/search she had ever performed.

There were also 15 folders containing over 13,000 emails that were purportedly sent by Plaintiff. The Defendants had years to review these emails and other documentary information described above, while Plaintiff merely had minutes. All personal communications ever made by Plaintiff, to the extent there were any during her years in the Cadet Organization and then Sea Organization, had been monitored and recorded by the Defendants and the Committee by examining them, proved the truth of Plaintiff’s litigation claims in this regard. The Committee also dealt with the various documents that the Plaintiff had to sign and attest to before the Defendants would permit her to depart from the confines of the Sea Organization.

The foregoing summary is far from exhaustive. Furthermore, Plaintiff has complained that the Defendants, through their Committee of Evidence masquerading as an “arbitration,” had not been dealing with the allegations of her First Amended Complaint. For the first three days of forced arbitration, the Committee spent over eight hours each day trying to humiliate the Plaintiff and cause her to “cave in.” The Scientology Dictionary defines “Caved In” as “mental and/or physical collapse to the extent that the individual cannot function causatively.” At all times during the proceedings, there were also two Sea Organization members in the room representing the Defendants RTC and CSI. They sat right next to the Plaintiff the entire time. Plaintiff requested that her attorney also be present in the room and every time she made this request it was refused by the Committee.

The Committee of Evidence also brought in over ten “witnesses” which the Plaintiff had zero notice of. Therefore, she was denied an opportunity to prepare for each witness. These surprise witnesses were allowed to even scream at the Plaintiff but the Plaintiff could not say anything in response to any of these “witnesses.” The Committee was not interested in the truth of what actually happened and was not even willing to allow the Plaintiff to go over any of the evidence she had provided. The Plaintiff was not allowed to ask a single question of any of these “witnesses.” She had to do so through the Committee chairperson who would then decide if and how she [the chairperson] would ask the question.

In summary, the Committee and the Defendant’s representatives yelled at Plaintiff, did not let her speak to or question “witnesses,” constantly called Plaintiff a liar and questioned her motives as to why she was doing this [the lawsuit], and making her conform to the Committee’s belief despite the fact Plaintiff is no longer a Scientologist. In fact, Plaintiff had to repeatedly remind the panel that she is not and has not been a Scientologist for at least eight years. This was neither accepted nor acknowledged by the Committee, which merely continued with the psychological and verbal abuse of the Plaintiff.

What is obvious is that the Committee is perpetrating what Scientology has called “Fair Game.” A person who sues Scientology becomes a “Suppressive Person” who can be handled by “Fair Game.” The Defendants also have a policy and practice as set forth in an issue 27 March 1972 titled Counter Attack Tactics stating that “those who attack Scientology … are provenly suppressive.

The policies this Committee is using are the same tactics they have used for decades with the sole purpose to wear the Plaintiff down with endless berating, mental abuse, and delays. This is meant to exhaust both the Plaintiff and the American judicial system. Part of this policy involves destroying careers of Suppressive Persons. “These persons can always lose their jobs. These jobs, permitting them power to destroy, are valuable to them. This is A POINT OF VULNERABILITY. If the person’s job is also not valuable to him or if he cannot be cost his job, something can be found which he is seeking to protect and it can be threatened.” Scientology issue 27 March 1972, “Counter Attack Tactics.”

In the case at bar, the Defendants are dragging this purported “religious arbitration” on month after month. The Plaintiff has complained that the multiple five continuous days of arbitration interrogation herein are detrimental to her employment and wellbeing. However, the Committee of Evidence has insisted on at least five more days of continuous examination and testimony and they have stated that they do not know when this “religious arbitration” will be concluded….It is time to set a date for the completion of this farce.

 
III. THE COURT MUST SET A DATE FOR COMPLETION OF THE ARBITRATION

Plaintiff has complained that the Defendants, through their Committee of Evidence masquerading as an “arbitration,” have not been dealing with the allegations in her First Amended Complaint. Although the Committee has contended they have been addressing her FAC it is clear from her notes and reports that they are not. Instead, they have been going through many banker’s boxes of document comprising her “Ethics Reports [reports regarding her non-compliant conduct and resulting punishments],” “Knowledge Reports [reports by third persons regarding alleged misconduct by the Plaintiff],” and previous “Committees of Evidence” [a military court martial like disciplinary hearing].

Thus far, the five days of “religious arbitration” have merely been Defendant’s program to psychologically “restimulate” Plaintiff’s previous painful experiences, cause her continuing and new trauma, physically and mentally exhaust her, and ultimately drive her to lose her employment and to dismiss this case. 5 The restimulation of the painful incidents in her Scientology “folders” acts to retraumatize and to re-abuse the Plaintiff. This is an unconscionable process.

To that end, the Defendant’s had appointed Kristen Caetano to the Committee of Evidence and to serve as it’s secretary. The Plaintiff alleges that Ms. Caetano (posted to Scientology’s notorious Office of Special Affairs) was one of those persons who imprisoned her for 3 months. Plaintiff had listed Ms. Emily Jones as a “person in good standing” without knowing that the Defendant’s had already selected her to be one of the three arbitrators. Emily was both a percipient witness and a “confidant” of the Plaintiff. Therefore, the three person Committee of Evidence included two persons who were either witnesses to Scientology’s abuse alleged in Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint or who themselves were one of those who had engaged in the abuse of the Plaintiff. Also present and representing defendants Religious Technology Center and Church of Scientology were Amber O’Sullivan and Chelsea Graves (who were also witnesses to the direct abuse endured by Plaintiff and [complained of in the FACC], and abusers themselves of the Plaintiff. However, the Plaintiff was not permitted to either be represented by counsel (or even to have counsel observing) or to be accompanied by a friend for emotional support.

The ‘Declaration of Lynn R. Farney In Support of Motion to Compel Religious Arbitration’ not only concedes that this arbitration is being conducted by a ‘Committee of Evidence’ but, by omission, he also concedes that there is no fixed time within which the ‘Committee of Evidence’ must complete its business and render an award…

 
V. CONCLUSION

The Court should set an end date for the completion of this phase of the lawsuit.

The Scientology printing plant in Commerce, CA where Valerie Haney has been forced to sit in ‘arbitration’ on her own with half a dozen antagonistic Scientologists, day after day.

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