Scientologists Lose Appeal Against $60-Million Bond

The Supreme Court today rebuffed pleas by the Church of Scientology of California for relief from a requirement that it post a bond of up to $60 million while appealing a Los Angeles jury award. The organization claims that payment of the bond would plunge the church into bankruptcy.

The high court action stems from a Los Angeles Superior Court jury’s award last year of $30 million--$5 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages--to ex-Scientologist Larry Wollersheim, who claimed that the church harassed him and drove him to the brink of insanity.

Staggered by the size of the judgment, the Scientologists immediately contested it, first by picketing the county courthouse in Los Angeles and later by filing a series of petitions in federal and state courts.

Under California law, the losing side must post a cash bond equal to twice the amount of the verdict or a surety bond equaling 1 1/2 times the amount of the award to appeal a case. This means that the church must pay a bond of either $60 million or $45 million respectively.

In legal papers seeking to have the bond voided, church attorney Leonard Bodin insisted that the organization “will be severely crippled or destroyed by a judgment of questionable constitutionality” because the organization’s net worth is only $13 million.

Bodin contended further that such a potentially ruinous bond requirement is unconstitutional because it has the effect of denying the church the right to appeal.

Attorneys for Wollersheim argued, however, that the California church is actually part of a larger national church, which can afford to pay the bond.

In October, the high court granted the church’s plea to stay the posting of the bond. But after five months of delay, the justices this morning, without comment, vacated the stay and rejected the church’s appeal. The controversy is now sent back to the California courts.

“I suppose we will have to pursue this matter again in state courts,” said Bodin, a New York attorney, after the high court action.

Attorneys for Texaco, the beleaguered oil giant, had made the same argument in urging the Supreme Court to void a Texas bond requirement while the company appealed a $10-billion verdict in favor of Pennzoil. But two weeks ago, the justices in a written opinion said Texaco would have to fight that battle in state courts.

The high court’s action today in effect requires the same for the Scientologists.