Judge Upholds Ex-Scientologist’s $30-Million Win

In a stinging legal defeat for the Church of Scientology of California, a judge refused Thursday to overturn a $30-million verdict against the church or to grant a new trial.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Swearinger affirmed the July 22 jury verdict that awarded $25 million in punitive damages and $5 million in compensatory damages to former Scientologist Larry Wollersheim.

Wollersheim, 37, claimed that church members destroyed his business and drove him to the brink of insanity when he broke with church teachings after an 11-year membership. He said the church labeled him an enemy and organized a business boycott and harassment campaign against him.

In three days of heated argument, Scientology attorneys contended that they should be granted a new trial because their religious beliefs were unconstitutionally placed on trial and because the verdict was the result of juror “passion and prejudice.”

They argued that the damages should be thrown out because they bore no relation to the harm Wollersheim suffered and because they represented a “crippling” blow to the Church of Scientology of California, whose net worth is estimated at $18 million.

The church said Wollersheim is an embittered, emotionally unstable man who lashed out at the church when his pipe dreams of great wealth through Scientology failed to materialize.

The church said Wollersheim’s novelty store was on the verge of collapse from his own poor business dealings. Church attorneys claimed that Scientology helped Wollersheim and denied his claims that the church cut him off from his friends and family.

In Tampa, Fla., recently, it was disclosed that the Church of Scientology had reached out-of-court settlements in four multimillion-dollar civil suits, but the details of the settlements were ordered sealed by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich.

The settlements were reached in suits filed by former Clearwater, Fla., Mayor Gabe Cazares, who now is a Democratic candidate for Congress; Tanja C. Burden of Las Vegas; Nancy McLean of Ontario, Canada, and Margery Wakefield, whose address was not available.

Tampa attorney Walt Logan, who represented plaintiffs in all four cases, said the files were sealed “over our objections.”

The Cazareses sued the Church of Scientology for $1.5 million for invasion of privacy and maliciously prosecuting them with a frivolous lawsuit that was thrown out of court.

They contended that the Scientologists abused the legal process and subjected them to public humiliation, and that the attorney who represented them in the 1976 case that was dismissed was actually a Scientologist who funneled private information about them to the church.

$45 Million Sought

Burden filed suit in 1980 seeking more than $45 million, alleging that the church, its founder L. Ron Hubbard, and his wife Mary Sue Hubbard, and the Clearwater headquarters of the church had enslaved her for more than four years.

She said the church promised to free her of mental and emotional problems and enhance her intelligence. She sought damages for fraud, breach of contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A federal jury, in a non-binding, abbreviated trial in March, recommended that she receive $325,000 in damages.

The McLeans sued in 1981, alleging invasion of privacy and malicious prosecution, and as in the Cazares case, a slander suit filed by the church was dismissed as frivolous.

Jury Recommendation

A federal jury in Tampa recommended a $775,000 settlement in a non-binding, abbreviated trial similar to that of Burden.

Wakefield filed suit in 1982, claiming that the church fraudulently promised to cure her mental illness and instead mentally abused her. The amount of money sought was not available.

“We can’t talk about the terms of the settlement,” Cazares said. “But I make no secret about the fact Maggie and I are not unhappy about the settlement. In fact, we’re smiling.”

“Ms. Burden is satisfied with the settlement,” attorney Michael Tabb told the St. Petersburg Times. “I wish I could tell you more.”

Tabb is an associate of Boston lawyer Michael Flynn, who along with Logan, represented Burden.

Scientology attorney Paul Johnson of Tampa said in a prepared statement Friday all existing litigation between the church and the people involved in the four suits “have been amicably settled.”

“This settlement marks the resolution of all former disputes between the parties concerned and establishes a clean slate among us,” the statement read. “There will be no further statement from the Church of Scientology.”