Harassment case against Scientology and Danny Masterson is moving forward

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At the end of May, Danny Masterson was convicted of two out of three counts of rape. In early August Leah Remini sued Scientology over the harassment, defamation, and psychological torture she was subjected to while a member. By the end of August Remini had to file an amended complaint over the further harassment COS had inflicted since her previous court filing. Then a few weeks ago Masterson was sentenced to 30 years for his two rape convictions. And now this, an LA Superior Court judge has lifted a stay on a harassment case filed by three Jane Does in 2019. A trial will now proceed with both Scientology and Masterson as defendants:

Right now, Masterson and the David Miscavige-led Church are set to go to trial on September 22, 2025. In case you are wondering, court backlogs and an expected flood of discovery filings are among several reasons the trial won’t start for nearly two years.

With that in mind, and the indication the currently incarcerated Masterson intends to appeal his rape convictions, Judge Kalra pointed out that if the likely to be long process in the criminal case reopens, discovery in the civil case will be delayed — which means the plaintiffs could literally run out of time under the statute of limitations.

All three Jane Does in the civil case, in which Scientology tried unsuccessfully last year to get the Supreme Court to intervene in, are former members of the Church. In their complaint back in 2019, the plaintiffs claimed they were put under surveillance by the Church, repeatedly harassed and had pets slaughtered after going to the LAPD with their claims against the actor. Delivering harrowing victims statements in court, the trio also were participants in the criminal case against Masterson, which saw him convicted on May 31 and sentenced on September 7.

Scientology did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on the trial date today. Yet, as a joint status report from Monday displays, the Church did not want the stay lifted.

“The Church Defendants maintain that the current stay should continue because it is unclear whether Plaintiffs are filing an amended complaint,” the September 25 filing stated. “At the meet and confer, the Church Defendants asked Plaintiffs if they were intending to file an amended complaint, and Plaintiffs responded that they are contemplating an amendment and would notify all parties on September 24, 2023, if they were doing so. The discovery stay should be continued if an amendment is forthcoming so that the parties know of the current allegations when propounding and responding to discovery.”

Frequently mentioned in Masterson’s criminal trials that saw the prominent Scientologist found guilty of two acts of rape, the Church was not a defendant in that case. However, Scientology is a defendant in Leah Remini’s August 3-filed harassment lawsuit. On August 30, the Scientology and the Aftermath co-host filed an amended complaint claiming the alleged harassment had ramped up since the initial suit was put in the court docket. Slammed by the Church as “a horrible person” and a hate-speech-spewing “bigot” for her suit, former prominent Scientologist Remini also is seeking an injunction against the Church.

Since the Jane Doe civil case was filed, Scientology has insisted that the matter of the harassment and surveillance accusations had no place in the courts. The notoriously publicity-shy Church declared that, due to paperwork the plaintiffs had signed as members of Scientology, such issues had to be dealt with behind closed doors in “religious arbitration.”

[From Deadline]

Those women stated that the harassment included their pets being slaughtered, was in 2019 and nothing happened! These people are thugs. I want David Miscavige sentenced to prison with hours of menial labor. And I want their tax exemption status revoked, ffs. Please let this momentum continue against COS. Hopefully their penchant for committing blatant crimes against their accusers, not to mention the well-documented harassment, will hasten their downfall. Sidenote, the way they verbally lash out against Leah Remini is awful, but also so hilariously obvious. “She’s a hate-speech-spewing bigot who should shut up or emigrate to Russia where they don’t have free speech!” I’m getting total Lucille Bluth vibes, like back in the Arrested Development pilot with her complaint about gay people: “Everything they do is so dramatic and flamboyant. It just makes me want to set myself on fire!”

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