Scientology Founder’s Appearance Ordered

A Los Angeles federal judge has ordered Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who has not been seen in public since 1980, to appear in Los Angeles next week to give a deposition in a libel suit the church filed against a Boston lawyer who has been a major Scientology critic.

Lawyers for the Church of Scientology of California told Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real on Monday, however, that they have no way of contacting Hubbard and that he will not be “available” to comply with the judge’s order.

If Hubbard does not appear for the March 20 deposition at the Los Angeles offices of attorneys Jeffrey Tidus and Raul L. Martinez, Real could dismiss the libel suit against Boston lawyer Michael J. Flynn and impose financial sanctions on the church.

“The defendants know we have no access to Mr. Hubbard, that we cannot get a message to him,” John G. Peterson, an attorney for Scientology, said in asking Real to reconsider his order.

The church filed the libel action against Flynn in 1983, after a speech by the Boston attorney in Los Angeles in which Flynn spoke of his legal battles with Scientologists and then told of an emergency landing he had to make in his private plane, allegedly the result of water in the fuel tanks of the plane.

The libel action, charging that Flynn had implied an attempt to murder him, was initially dismissed by Real on procedural grounds. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Real in October, 1984, and ordered him to rehear the case.

After informing Real on Monday that Hubbard will not appear for the deposition, Peterson asked the judge to issue an “expedited decision” on whether there will be sanctions against the church. Outside the courtroom, Peterson said he will appeal any sanctions Real may impose.

Tidus, who has asked the judge to dismiss the libel suit against his client, said he expects that Real will dismiss the action and award attorney’s fees to Flynn if Hubbard does not appear.

The Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, said outside the courtroom that “no one really knows” how to find the 74-year-old Hubbard.

“I’ve never met Mr. Hubbard, and I’ve been with the church for 18 years,” Jentzsch said. “We don’t know how to get in touch with him.”

Hubbard, according to testimony in other lawsuits involving the church in recent years, was last seen in March, 1980, when he was living in Hemet.

Peterson said that although he had no way of communicating with Hubbard, he understands that Hubbard “has been doing a lot of writing and also working on a movie” in recent years.

In arguing against Hubbard’s deposition, Peterson told Real that “the record clearly indicates that Mr. Hubbard had no knowledge” of the incident involving Flynn’s airplane.

“Nobody will know that except Mr. Hubbard, will they?” Real said, refusing to take any further action in the case until after the March 20 deposition date.