I am not a lawyer, but since I have seen every episode of Ally McBeal, I do consider myself somewhat of an expert on American law and so have decided to graciously give you the benefit of my opinion on this matter.

Firstly, Miscavige has detonated a medium-yield footnuke by ordering his pet shysters to bring this suit. I suspect he is so blinded by rage at Debbie’s personal criticism of him that he is oblivious to the consequences. A ‘church’ that professes to be a supporter of the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights suing someone for expressing their opinion? This fact alone is going to make them look very bad to a lot of people who might have been inclined to give them support.

And this is quite apart from the extra publicity generated by this filing. The furore over the original email was just about dying down and then it gets catapulted into the news again! How many Scientologists who were unaware of the original email are going to hear about this and then wonder WTF and look for the text?

I had been hoping that someone would challenge one of these gagging agreements ever since I heard about them a few years ago. If Debbie wins this case, then perhaps this will lead to a flood of stories from other disgruntled ex-SO.

Clearly, this suit has been brought in order to intimidate, probably with the intention of making Debbie and Wayne retract their earlier comments (and probably say that this was all done at the behest of Marty) even if it means giving them some more cash. I just hope that Debbie and Wayne have the persistence to take it to court. Imagine the scenario where Debbie’s defence team claim that the contract is void as it was signed under duress, citing months of public humiliation and degrading punishments at the hands of the cult’s Diminutive Dictator and then proceed to depose the entire Int Exec strata including Davey boy?

I can’t imagine that Miscavige will ever allow himself to be dragged into a court and be faced with nightmare scenario of having to admit to handing out sadistic and arbitrary punishments or the alternative of perjuring himself.

Trouble is, the cult can’t back out now as it will make them look weak and give the green light for anyone else who were forced to sign these NDAs.

I can see this particular soap playing for quite some time and being a very irritating thorn in the cult’s backside.

Axiom142

Scientology sues ex-leader
Secretive sect claims woman violated silence pact by bad-mouthing Cruise pal
The Daily. 1st Feb 2012
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/02/01 ... logy-suit/

"Cruise Pal," huh?

That may also get legs.

Hey, Sponge - there's a terrific editorial in the Tampa Bay Times this morning "Scientology Hypocritical on Rights" if you or someone can go in and get it. Just want to make sure it doesn't get overlooked.

It wasn't overlooked. It was posted 10 hours ago over the page: viewtopic.php?p=431687#p431687

All this fricking legal BS.

If I were Debbie, I'd just hire a cheap local lawyer, and not worry about losing, in fact I'd just do the minimum, and if that's losing, then SO WHAT?

Pay off the decision, go bankrupt, and just NOT get all wrapped up in the legal crap, and worry that one's lawyer(s) were bad or whatever.

Losing to unprincipled Scientology lawyers is NOT a loss in the public's mind.

She should give back the wealth (money or whatever settlement she got from Scientology for signing that gag agreement).

I say her best course is lose, go bankrupt, pay whoever needs be paid with whatever assets she has, and that's it.

Regain her freedom of speech, and start over. But start over FREE!!!!!

And if your defense wins, then good! But be prepared to lose, and go bankrupt, etc, but in all cases regain your freedom of speech publicly!

(Thanks for the edit, chuckbeatty. Your latest edit reads a lot better than the first draft.)

In the state the economy is in, bankruptcy is always on one's mind (of most people), so this might be a really good strategy. If C of S "wins" the case with a monetary judgment, they cannot refile if Cook/Baumgarten file bankruptcy (getting the monetary judgment included in the bankruptcy case).

I guess the only thing I would want to make sure (if it were me, not Cook/Baumgarten) would be that I could continue to say whatever I wanted and not be enjoined (by a court) from utterances in the future.

Debbie wrote in her email about DM hoarding cash, like over a billion bucks or something. I dk much about this stuff but I thought one of the requirements for a non-profit was that it had to invest all extra cash back into the organization, not hoard it in overseas bank accounts or spend it on extravagant personal items. Then there's the claim by JB and others of personal inurement for DM and others that the CoS's cash has been used for. Apparently even Debbie bought or was bought an expensive car (40K?) as a "commission" for her fundraising efforts. Seems to me there is plenty to whistleblow to the IRS on.

I don't agree that she should get a cheap lawyer and expect to "lose" and pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in court ordered penalties and debts for the rest of her life (the church is suing her for 300K). I think she has much to gain (on many levels) by taking on CoS, CST, etc. Not just for herself but for many, many other people. This may be her one chance to reverse her karma and all the years she did what she did and watched what was going on, and did nothing. I dk of any cases that have set a precedent for CoS gags. This case could set many precedents. But I agree she'd have to commit to the long haul, and expect CoS to appeal every time they lose, if they lose.

Debbie & Wayne signed an agreement never to talk about Scientology again, regardless of the issue. Whether, this involves criminal conduct known to them, will be decided by the court, either in Texas, or in the appellate phase.

Easier said, than done, Chuck. Some judges have the ability to prevent money judgements from being written off in bankruptcy, especially if the court-ordered judgement was in response to a legal violation. That may or may not be the case with Debbie & Wayne.

If D & W ignored all the legal crap, and simply defaulted on everything, they've effectively waived their rights to appeal decisions rendered against them.

Well thank you Smurf for that distilled down one-liner translation of the 12 pages legal-ese document. I really was wondering what was written in it. Of course, my English is so poor that I might have missed something while reading it. What would I have ever done without you. Thanks again.

/sarcasm

My pleasure. Any time. You may wish to sign up for an English remedial course.

You're referring to things like the following (which I don't think applies to C/B's case).

Generally, an individual who files for bankruptcy can have court-ordered judgments discharged, meaning the judgments do not have to be paid. Debts due to fraud, however, are an exception.

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/11/5/II/523

Still, this is not an automatic exception. If Debbie & Wayne were to declare bankruptcy to avoid paying a judgment against them, the cult can file a motion with the federal bankruptcy court to except their judgment from discharge in the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy judge has the discretion to do this based on his/her understanding of the case, regardless whether fraud was involved or not.

The "fraud" wouldn't be on the part of Cook/Baumgarten, but rather by C of S. The code you mention is relevant if the party requesting bankruptcy (the debtor) committed the fraud, not the [potential] creditor (C of S).

(sigh) I give up trying to explain this to Smurfie-Pie. It's like trying to argue/discuss something with a Scientologist. The paradoxes in their mind make the words leaving their lips sound like "Blah blah Ginger".