Kanabay Court Reporters; Serving West Central Florida
Pinellas (727)821-3320 Hillsborough (813)224-9500
Tampa Airport Marriott Deposition Suite (813)224-9500
1
2 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA
3 CASE NO. 00-5682-CI-11
4
DELL LIEBREICH, as Personal
5 Representative of the ESTATE OF
LISA McPHERSON,
6
7 Plaintiff,
8 vs.
9 CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG
SERVICE ORGANIZATION, JANIS
10 JOHNSON, ALAIN KARTUZINSKI
and DAVID HOUGHTON, D.D.S.,
11
Defendants.
12
_______________________________________/
13
14 PROCEEDINGS: Defendants' Ominbus Motion for
Terminating Sanctions and Other Relief.
15
DATE: May 3, 2002, morning session.
16
PLACE: Courtroom B, Judicial Buiding
17 St. Petersburg, Florida.
18 BEFORE: Hon. Susan F. Schaeffer,
Circuit Judge.
19
REPORTED BY: Donna M. Kanabay RMR, CRR,
20 Notary Public,
State of Florida at large.
21
22
23
24
25
2
1 APPEARANCES:
2 MR. KENNAN G. DANDAR
DANDAR & DANDAR
3 5340 West Kennedy Blvd., Suite 201
Tampa, FL 33602
4 Attorney for Plaintiff.
5 MR. LUKE CHARLES LIROT
LUKE CHARLES LIROT, PA
6 112 N East Street, Street, Suite B
Tampa, FL 33602-4108
7 Attorney for Plaintiff.
8 MR. KENDRICK MOXON
MOXON & KOBRIN
9 1100 Cleveland Street, Suite 900
Clearwater, FL 33755
10 Attorney for Church of Scientology Flag Service
Organization.
11
12 MS. HELENA KOBRIN
MOXON & KOBRIN
13 1100 Cleveland Street, Suite 900
Clearwater, FL 33755
14 Attorney for David Houghton.
15 MR. LEE FUGATE and
MR. MORRIS WEINBERG, JR. and
16 ZUCKERMAN, SPAEDER
101 E. Kennedy Blvd, Suite 1200
17 Tampa, FL 33602-5147
Attorneys for Church of Scientology Flag Service
18 Organization.
19 MICHAEL LEE HERTZBERG
740 Broadway, Fifth Floor
20 New York, New York 10003
Attorney for Church of Scientology Flag Service
21 Organization.
22 MR. ERIC M. LIEBERMAN
RABINOWITZ, BOUDIN, STANDARD
23 740 Broadway at Astor Place
New York, NY 10003-9518
24 Attorney for Church of Scientology Flag Service
Organization.
25
3
1
2 ALSO PRESENT:
3 Ms. Donna West
Ms. Dell Liebreich
4 Mr. Rick Spector
Mr. Allan Cartwright
5 Ms. Lara Cartwright
Ms. Sarah Heller
6 Mr. Ben Shaw
Ms. Joyce Earl
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
5
1 THE COURT: I forgot to tell you, I think they
2 have 400 jurors summoned for a --
3 MR. WIENBERG: We're all going to be
4 contributing to the city of Clearwater.
5 THE COURT: Exactly.
6 And remind me, if this case goes forward, to
7 discuss with you jury matters, kind of. We will,
8 ahead of time -- as I understand it, civil jurors
9 are selected south and north of Ulmerton Road, which
10 is the way it's always been done. Criminal jurors
11 are selected countywide. If there's going to be a
12 problem with the civil jurors that way, then we may
13 want to, as much as I would dislike the drive, go to
14 the criminal complex, pick the jury where they're
15 summonsed every day. We could go day-to-day,
16 day-to-day, until we had a jury, and then bring them
17 down here.
18 So I don't know if that's going to be an issue.
19 I could do the same thing down here. But they're
20 going to be different sides of the dividing line.
21 And if that's going to be an issue, I want it
22 raised, I want it heard, so that -- so that the jury
23 coordinator can figure out what we want to do there.
24 As is my custom, I'll tell you what I've had a
25 chance to get through last night. And it wasn't
6
1 everything. I did the best I could, but I just
2 couldn't read any more law about 1:00.
3 But for once I took your cases first. I took
4 the defense cases and read all of them. Maybe
5 because it was a smaller packet.
6 I did have a chance to read the original
7 affidavit of Jesse Prince. And I see now that --
8 why there's going to be a motion for summary
9 judgment, and I see now what the complaint is really
10 about. I frankly went back and reread it. I think
11 that we -- that the allegations are clearly a --
12 either intentional act or -- or culpable negligence
13 manslaughter. And I -- I even brought some of the
14 criminal law in here and the standard jury
15 instructions, went back and reviewed what
16 manslaughter is.
17 Manslaughter can be by intentional act or by
18 culpable negligence. Which we all know what that
19 is. If you don't, read the jury instructions and
20 you'll find it.
21 I think, as I read the complaint, that that is
22 the path that the plaintiff has alleged. And I
23 think Mr. Dandar confirmed that yesterday. I think
24 that I probably misspoke. And a lot of that was
25 just due to the fact that I guess I thought the
7
1 case -- you know how it is when you just don't read
2 a complaint; I really hadn't read that complaint
3 very carefully. As I read it, I probably have
4 erred. The mere fact that somebody isn't a party or
5 is dismissed as a party doesn't mean that the person
6 can't be mentioned in the proof. So summary
7 judgment's going to be -- Mr. Fugate had indicated
8 there would be two summary judgments forthcoming at
9 some point in time. You'll file it, we'll hear it.
10 If there's -- if there's an issue of fact, then
11 obviously it'll go to the jury. And that's the
12 tack -- I was wrong yesterday. So we'll work that
13 out at a later proceeding as to exactly what -- what
14 parts of the complaint can go forward, and if some
15 can't, what those are. That really isn't for this
16 hearing. And I --
17 Except for the fact that I do think that what
18 was stated as to whatever Mr. Prince's involvement
19 was to get the case in the present posture may have
20 some -- some bearing.
21 Maybe that's why judges are passivists, so they
22 just sit back and don't say too much, and then they
23 don't have to renege on what they said.
24 In any event, I read the -- as I said, all of
25 the law. I read the original affidavit of
8
1 Mr. Prince.
2 I did not read your notice of filing excerpts
3 of Mr. Minton's depositions because I had really
4 kind of read them throughout. I assume that you'll
5 be referring to what you want to refer to in this
6 hearing, so I didn't take the time to read all of
7 that once I realized that it's the four different
8 depositions, and I assume you're going to refer to
9 what you think is important.
10 I did read notice of filing affidavit in
11 opposition that was filed as an affidavit by
12 Mr. Prince, in its entirety. I did read as many of
13 the defense cases -- I'm sorry -- yeah. I said
14 defense. I get the parties all confused.
15 I read the plaintiff's cases, all of the
16 plaintiff's cases. I read the defendant's cases
17 real quick. I just kind of glanced through them. I
18 noticed that you all refer to some of the same
19 cases. I probably got --
20 Well, I see, at page -- at tab 12, I'm
21 underlining, and I see that on 14 I made some
22 comments. So I haven't finished that. I'll take it
23 home again this weekend and try to read through the
24 rest of the law.
25 I read enough of the law to be -- to be
9
1 persuaded that I must do two things here. And that
2 is, on any disqualification motion, it appears there
3 needs to be an evidentiary hearing and there needs
4 to be findings of fact. I assume therefore that
5 means whether the court grants disqualification or
6 doesn't grant disqualification, there needs to be a
7 full evidentiary hearing and finding of fact that
8 can be reviewed. So we're going to go forward today
9 with the evidentiary hearing.
10 I also read a case, I believe, provided by the
11 defendant, that talked about allegations of fraud.
12 Says, "The court should adhere to due process,
13 adversarial practice and evidentiary rule in
14 conducting an inquiry into charges that fraud have
15 been perpetrated on the court." I believe that was
16 a dismissal of the charge. I think it was one of
17 our local judges, actually. When I -- I read that
18 and I also saw another case that seems to say that
19 before the court should consider dismissing the
20 case, there should be an evidentiary hearing.
21 Putting all of that together, I think that it
22 would behoove us to go on ahead and have the
23 evidentiary hearing, and we shall do that.
24 I'm still fairly comfortable with the reading
25 of the transcripts. However, I'm assuming that both
10
1 Mr. Dandar will be testifying before me, so that I
2 can observe him, and Mr. Minton will be as well. If
3 that doesn't happen, then this court is going to
4 have to judge credibility. And in all probability,
5 I need -- I need that. I mean, I think as long as
6 there's some testimony where I can observe the
7 witness and see the demeanor of the witness while
8 testifying, the types of things I would normally do.
9 Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes
10 you have to look to the words that are spoken and
11 how it makes sense. But sometimes it does. So if
12 I'm going to be judging credibility, I'm going to
13 have to see both of those persons live, at least in
14 part.
15 So I know Mr. Dandar's going to testify this
16 morning, so that would be an opportunity for me to
17 observe him. And I assume Mr. Minton is coming in
18 on Monday, and that would be an opportunity to
19 observe him.
20 MR. FUGATE: That's correct, your Honor.
21 THE COURT: So as long as I'm able to observe
22 these people in -- in some fashion in testimony
23 before me, I'm still comfortable taking the rest of
24 it and introducing it as part of this hearing in
25 their testimony, because I think I'll have an
11
1 adequate opportunity to observe them.
2 If that's going to be an issue, in fairness --
3 I could understand it; I could understand why you'd
4 want me to say, "You've got to see it all," and I'll
5 do that. But I think if we're still in agreement
6 that as long as I see both of the -- what I would
7 call principal witnesses, as to some of the issues,
8 that I can -- I can judge their credibility by
9 seeing them in part, that's fine.
10 So if you all are still comfortable with that,
11 that's fine. If you decide you're not, let me know.
12 Let's see.
13 So we're going to have an evidentiary hearing.
14 I read a case, kind of a brief case, that kind
15 of implied that an attorney's misdeeds could cause a
16 case to be dismissed and allow the person to have an
17 action against the attorney, or at least they said
18 the judge didn't abuse her discretion, even though
19 the appellate court wouldn't have done that. So you
20 know, I've read enough now where I feel comfortable
21 that I have an understanding of the issues much
22 better than I did before.
23 Thank goodness the perjury cases I read said
24 what I thought they would say. I did forget this.
25 But materiality is an issue for the court alone. So
12
1 that's a matter of law. So I'm going to have to
2 make that determination as a matter of law.
3 And there's another element in there that we
4 tend to forget about, and it can be critical in this
5 case, particularly as it may pertain to all of the
6 witnesses, and that is that they not only give false
7 testimony, but that they know that it's false. In
8 other words, that they know when they're making it
9 that it's false testimony.
10 Materiality, as I said, is an issue of law.
11 So having had a chance --
12 I was thinking that we presented that to the
13 jury, to be quite candid. But apparently not.
14 So I learned something last night, got myself
15 refreshed. You know, I hate to tell you all this,
16 but fortunately, I don't have to deal with these
17 issues every day. So it was good that I had this
18 law to look at to see where we're going. I think I
19 have enough direction now that I -- from the cases
20 provided, that I know what I need to be listening
21 to, and will do so, and will complete the reading of
22 the cases provided to me by the church this weekend.
23 I don't imagine we're going to finish today.
24 So by the time Monday rolls around, hopefully I'll
25 have had a chance to read everybody's cases. Okay?
13
1 So that's where we are.
2 So with that in mind, we might as well begin to
3 complete the evidentiary hearing begun by Judge
4 Baird. And I assume that at some point in time,
5 since this testimony will not be a part of this
6 proceeding, that we had better -- and I have copies,
7 but I'd sure like to keep my copies -- we had better
8 introduce into evidence in this proceeding the total
9 transcript, copy of the total transcript of the
10 hearing before Judge Baird. And I'm talking now
11 about the evidentiary hearing where there was cross
12 examination and that type of thing, the two days of
13 testimony.
14 MR. WIENBERG: Why don't we just call that
15 Court Exhibit 1?
16 THE COURT: That would be fine. Court
17 Exhibit 1, agreed to by both sides. That would be
18 testimony the court would consider as if it was
19 given live in front of her.
20 MR. LIROT: Agreed to.
21 THE COURT: Agreed.
22 (Court's Exhibit Number 1 marked.)
23 MR. WIENBERG: And just as in that hearing, we
24 would invoke the rule as it relates to witnesses.
25 THE COURT: Okay. The -- Madam Clerk, I can't
14
1 give that to you yet, but somebody will provide a
2 copy of this to the clerk as the court's exhibit at
3 some point. I don't -- I can't give her mine
4 because I need it. If I give her mine, I don't have
5 one.
6 MR. FUGATE: We'll -- we'll -- we'll get a copy
7 and make sure that Mr. Lirot -- oh --
8 THE COURT: You know what I'm talking about? I
9 don't need the day where Mr. Minton testified in his
10 contempt hearing before Judge Baird. That's not
11 what I perceive we're supposed to be doing; the full
12 evidentiary hearing with the due process,
13 adversarial practice. And so that wasn't it.
14 That's a different proceeding.
15 MR. WIENBERG: Well, we'll get it together and
16 by Monday we'll --
17 THE COURT: Okay. Right.
18 MR. WIENBERG: -- we'll --
19 MR. DANDAR: All right. So I believe where the
20 case left off in front of Judge Baird was the -- the
21 church, who was plaintiff there, had concluded with
22 Mr. Dandar, on calling him again, or recall or
23 finishing up or whatever it was, and Mr. Lirot, you
24 had not at all cross examined. Is that where we
25 were?
15
1 MR. LIROT: That's correct, your Honor.
2 THE COURT: So Mr. Dandar, if you want to
3 resume the stand?
4 MR. LIROT: If I may, Judge --
5 THE COURT: You may.
6 MR. LIROT: -- we have a witness, Mr. Leipold
7 in California --
8 THE COURT: Yes.
9 MR. LIROT: If we could call him out of
10 order -- we had talked yesterday about introducing
11 his letter and having him authenticate that letter.
12 I'd like to try to get him on the phone first. I
13 understand he has travel plans.
14 THE COURT: Okay.
15 MR. LIROT: So if that's acceptable to the
16 court --
17 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, may I address that?
18 THE COURT: You may.
19 MR. HERTZBERG: I want to bring to the court's
20 attention the fact that Mr. Leipold is an attorney
21 in California who has represented both Robert Minton
22 and Stacy Brooks within the past -- well, last
23 April -- at a deposition in a matter that's pending
24 in the Middle District in Tampa before Judge
25 Whittemore, and Mr. Leipold's firm represented
16
1 Mr. Minton as well at a deposition in this very
2 litigation several years ago.
3 And we're all aware that Mr. Minton's attorney
4 is not in -- present today. And it just raised a
5 question in my mind -- we don't have the standing to
6 raise it, but I was wondering to myself, and now I'm
7 wondering out loud, whether there may be some
8 privilege issues that are implicated by this
9 gentleman rendering any testimony with respect to
10 conversations he's had with Mr. Minton, or
11 Ms. Brooks, for that matter.
12 THE COURT: Could be.
13 MR. HERTZBERG: And it -- perhaps --
14 THE COURT: I don't know that that's what he
15 was going to do. I thought he was going to
16 authenticate a document.
17 MR. LIROT: That's correct, your Honor.
18 THE COURT: So with that --
19 MR. HERTZBERG: Is the document -- may I -- may
20 I ask whether -- whether that document is a document
21 that has to do at all, Mr. Lirot, with conversations
22 between -- purported conversations between
23 Mr. Minton and -- and his attorney, Mr. Leipold?
24 THE COURT: That's another issue.
25 The issue is whether this witness can
17
1 authenticate a document. Whether the document's
2 admissible can raise any issue that Mr. Minton's
3 lawyer wants to raise. And if I think that it looks
4 like it's privileged, we'll wait till we see what
5 Mr. Minton's attorney wants to say. I don't know
6 what the document says.
7 But if this witness is available to
8 authenticate a document, saying, "I wrote this
9 document," then I think he can testify to that,
10 regardless of any privilege. Whether it comes in or
11 not is a different matter.
12 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, may we see a copy
13 of the letter?
14 THE COURT: Sure.
15 MR. HERTZBERG: I asked for that earlier.
16 THE COURT: Can I see it?
17 MR. LIROT: Yes, Judge. If I may approach?
18 THE COURT: You may.
19 Well, of course, any objection that maybe
20 wanted to be made can be made. But once you publish
21 something -- of course, I don't know. Mr. Minton, I
22 suppose, could still raise an objection.
23 Who is Mr. Wollersheim? I see his name pop up
24 from time to time.
25 MR. DANDAR: He's a former Scientologist who's
18
1 been in litigation with the church since, I think,
2 '82.
3 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, he's --
4 THE COURT: In a what kind of suit?
5 MR. DANDAR: Emotional distress; intentional
6 infliction of emotional distress.
7 THE COURT: He's a plaintiff against the
8 church.
9 MR. DANDAR: And he has a judgment.
10 MR. HERTZBERG: He's represented by Mr. Leipold
11 using the same witnesses that essentially have been
12 used here and --
13 THE COURT: I don't need to know that right
14 now. What I need to know is, Mr. Leipold is a
15 plaintiff who's suing the church? Is that it?
16 MR. DANDAR: Yes.
17 MR. LIROT: Mr. Leipold's counsel for the
18 plaintiff.
19 THE COURT: I'm sorry. Mr. Wollersheim is --
20 MR. LIROT: That's correct, your Honor.
21 THE COURT: -- a plaintiff suing the church in
22 California.
23 MR. LIROT: Correct.
24 THE COURT: And Mr. Leipold is his lawyer?
25 MR. LIROT: That's correct.
19
1 MR. HERTZBERG: Not suing this church, your
2 Honor.
3 THE COURT: I'm sorry?
4 MR. HERTZBERG: He's not suing this church.
5 THE COURT: Okay. The Flag.
6 MR. HERTZBERG: Yes. He's not suing the Flag
7 Service Organization.
8 THE COURT: Okay. Well, let's call him the
9 man. I guess all you want him to do is say he has a
10 copy of this letter in front of him and it's an
11 authentic document?
12 MR. LIROT: Correct, Judge. We had some just
13 very brief fill-in inquiry of him.
14 MR. HERTZBERG: See, that's what I object to.
15 If they simply want to ask him did he write this
16 letter, which the copy I have is unsigned -- if they
17 want to ask him if he sent this May 1st, 2000 letter
18 to Mr. Dandar, I suppose that would authenticate it
19 and I probably won't have any questions at that
20 point.
21 But this is testimony, this letter. And if
22 they're going to go into it, I'm going to object.
23 Because first of all, I -- if -- if they go into
24 substance, it's going to implicate the area that
25 I've identified, where I think Mr. Howie's input is
20
1 required. And moreover, we're -- I'm going to want
2 to show him documents and -- and cross examine him
3 with documents. And we can't do that by telephone.
4 So I would reserve the -- you know --
5 THE COURT: What --
6 MR. HERTZBERG: If --
7 THE COURT: What are you --
8 MR. LIROT: Judge --
9 THE COURT: What are you wanting to fill in?
10 MR. LIROT: -- only foundational material,
11 explaining to the court what the Wollersheim case
12 is, and I think to establish just a brief
13 description of the cause of action. Probably no
14 different than what Mr. Dandar did. Nothing that
15 would require extensive cross examination. And all
16 we want to do is be able to establish that whatever
17 conversations took place between he and Ms. Brooks
18 have nothing to do with this case, so there's no
19 privilege that would attach to something that
20 happened in the Wollersheim case. That's it.
21 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, I have two
22 responses.
23 First of all, I think Mr. Howie has -- who's
24 now representing, in this case, at this hearing,
25 these witnesses who have been represented by
21
1 Mr. Leipold, will have to be apprised and have any
2 input on whether privileges are implicated or not.
3 Mr. Lirot's representation that they are not is
4 sufficient.
5 THE COURT: Nothing he just told me has a thing
6 to do with any privilege.
7 MR. HERTZBERG: Well, the other point I would
8 like to make, to raise an issue, is a relevancy
9 objection. I don't know why in the world this court
10 needs to be filled in by this witness in California
11 about a case that's pending in Los Angeles. I -- I
12 don't see what the purpose is. So I guess I'm
13 baffled as to why we're undertaking this enterprise
14 at all.
15 MR. LIROT: Judge, the only reason that we want
16 to ask Mr. Leipold anything has nothing to do with
17 any confidential or privileged information. Has to
18 do with money, his dealing with Mr. Minton as far as
19 money.
20 I don't care what they said about anything.
21 All I want to do is show that Mr. Minton has a
22 custom and practice of funding these types of cases,
23 that -- if they involved the Church of Scientology
24 for any reason. And that quite honestly, a number
25 of issues that have been critical to us made by
22
1 opposing counsel are something that Mr. Minton has a
2 standard of doing, to show that he's in the habit of
3 giving away a lot of money, never gets an agreement
4 in writing. None of that's privileged.
5 And there's no order such as what we have with
6 the Second DCA. I don't believe there's any
7 companion order in the Wollersheim case. So we can
8 ask about money in that case.
9 THE COURT: I think that's relevant.
10 MR. HERTZBERG: Why would that have any
11 relevancy, your Honor?
12 THE COURT: Doesn't matter --
13 MR. HERTZBERG: Why would Mr. --
14 THE COURT: -- what you think. I said I think
15 it's relevant. That's the end of that.
16 All right. Let's go ahead.
17 MR. LIROT: Judge --
18 MR. HERTZBERG: Before we get him on the phone,
19 your Honor, how am I going to cross examine him with
20 documents if --
21 THE COURT: See what you need and we'll see if
22 we can do it. If we can't, why, we'll have to
23 strike his testimony.
24 MR. LIROT: Candidly, Judge, I don't think he's
25 going to exceed the scope of any question, so I
23
1 don't know what documents he's going to have. But
2 we'll get to that when we get to that.
3 THE COURT: All right.
4 MR. LIROT: Shall I dial the number, Judge?
5 THE COURT: Yes.
6 (Phone call being made.)
7 THE COURT: You're absolutely going to get into
8 no conversations between him and anyone he's ever
9 represented, particularly Mr. Minton, whose lawyer's
10 not here.
11 MR. LIROT: I'll be cautious, your Honor.
12 MR. FUGATE: May I be excused a moment, your
13 Honor? I'm not going to be --
14 THE COURT: You may.
15 MR. LIEPOLD: Hello?
16 MR. LIROT: Mr. Leipold?
17 MR. LIEPOLD: Yeah.
18 MR. LIROT: Good morning. This is Luke Lirot.
19 I'm before Judge Schaeffer. We're in court right
20 now. There is a court reporter taking down your
21 statements this morning.
22 Could you please state your name and spell --
23 THE COURT: Wait -- wait just a minute.
24 MR. LIROT: I'm sorry, Judge.
25 THE COURT: Hi. Mr. Leipold?
24
1 MR. LIEPOLD: Good morning.
2 THE COURT: Good morning. My name is Judge
3 Schaeffer. How are you?
4 MR. LIEPOLD: I'm fine.
5 THE COURT: Mr. Leipold, if I were to ask you
6 to raise your right hand and receive an oath, would
7 you understand that, while you're here in front of
8 this court on the phone, that I would perceive and
9 consider that oath to be binding, and therefore
10 whatever oaths mean in Cal- -- in Florida, I'm sure
11 they mean in California?
12 THE WITNESS: Yes, your Honor.
13 THE COURT: And would you do that for me?
14 THE WITNESS: Yes, I will.
15 THE COURT: Would you raise your right hand?
16 ___________________________________
17 DANIEL LEIPOLD,
18 the witness herein, being first duly sworn, was examined
19 and testified as follows:
20 THE COURT: You may lower your hand. And thank
21 you.
22 DIRECT EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. LIROT:
24 Q Could you please state your name and spell your
25 last name for the record?
25
1 A My name is Daniel Leipold, L-e-i-p-o-l-d.
2 Q And Mr. Leipold, how are you employed?
3 A I'm an attorney.
4 Q And are you a member of the California bar in good
5 standing?
6 A Yes, I am.
7 Q Have you had an opportunity to litigate a cause of
8 action with a gentleman by the name of Larry Wollersheim and
9 I guess what I'll call an affiliate of the Church of
10 Scientology?
11 A I am Mr. Wollersheim's attorney in an action
12 against the Church of Scientology in California that also
13 includes the Church of Scientology International and
14 Religious Technology Center.
15 Q All right. Could you briefly describe the nature
16 of that cause of action to the court?
17 MR. HERTZBERG: Objection, your Honor.
18 Relevance.
19 THE COURT: Overruled.
20 A As to --
21 THE COURT: You may -- you may be right, but I
22 want to hear it. And I may just throw it out. But
23 I don't know because I don't know what it is, so --
24 A This is a case that was tried to judgment in 1986.
25 And there is -- it is currently -- the judgment is currently
26
1 worth approximately $8.6 million, and I am in post-trial
2 proceedings to apply the judgment against Religious
3 Technology Center and Church of Scientology International as
4 the alter-egos of Church of Scientology of California, in
5 order to collect the judgment.
6 BY MR. LIROT:
7 Q All right. And have you had an opportunity to use
8 expert witnesses and consultants in that cause of action?
9 A Yes, I have.
10 Q Can you tell this court who those individuals
11 would be?
12 A I've used a number of them. One would be Robert
13 Vaughn Young, another would be Stacy Young, and another
14 would be Jesse Prince.
15 Q All right. And in that litigation, have you had
16 an opportunity to file a declaration? And I guess what
17 I'll -- I'll ask, are you aware that a declaration is the
18 equivalent of what we call in Florida an affidavit?
19 A Yes.
20 Q And can you tell the court what the significance
21 of a declaration is under the California Rules of Civil
22 Procedure?
23 A It is --
24 MR. HERTZBERG: Objection, your Honor.
25 A It is --
27
1 THE COURT: Overruled.
2 A -- essentially the same thing as an affidavit,
3 only in California you don't have to have a notary republic
4 (sic) sign for the witness.
5 BY MR. LIROT:
6 Q All right. And did you have an opportunity to
7 receive such a declaration from Stacy Brooks?
8 A In the Wollersheim case? Yes --
9 Q That's correct.
10 A -- I did.
11 Q Were there any developments regarding Ms. Brooks
12 and the tender of that declaration to the court in your
13 case?
14 A I filed the declaration originally, I believe,
15 sometime in mid-1997, and I received a telephone call from
16 Ms. Brooks on April 8th, I believe, 2002, in which she told
17 me that she and Robert Minton were attempting to settle
18 legal actions against them or settle with the Church of
19 Scientology, and she wished me to withdraw that declaration
20 from the -- from the court. And then later that day, Bob
21 Minton --
22 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor --
23 A -- he asked me to dismiss that action on behalf of
24 my client.
25 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, we now have him
28
1 discussing the substance of conversations with
2 Ms. Brooks, who he has represented as an attorney.
3 This is exactly what I feared would happen and why I
4 felt it was necessary for Mr. Howie to address this
5 issue before we went --
6 THE COURT: Mr. Howie --
7 MR. HERTZBERG: -- down this --
8 THE COURT: -- doesn't represent Ms. Brooks.
9 Is Mr. --
10 MR. HERTZBERG: Mr. McGowan. He's not present.
11 But I don't know how this lawyer, who has
12 represented both of those witnesses, can testify
13 about conversations with either of them.
14 THE COURT: Counsel, did you ever represent
15 Stacy Brooks?
16 THE WITNESS: I have represented her at
17 deposition.
18 THE COURT: Well, I guess that's
19 representation.
20 So that testimony will be stricken from the
21 record until such time as we can see whether or not
22 there's an objection to it by her lawyer.
23 THE WITNESS: All right.
24 BY MR. LIROT:
25 Q Mr. Leipold, did you have an opportunity to author
29
1 a letter dated May 1st, 2002, sent via facsimile to Ken
2 Dandar of the firm Dandar and Dandar?
3 A Yes.
4 MR. LIROT: And Judge --
5 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, I'm going to object
6 to any questions about this letter. This -- the
7 letter is entirely, in terms of substance, about
8 conversations he purportedly had with Stacy Brooks
9 and Robert Minton.
10 THE COURT: All I heard him ask is whether he
11 authored this letter.
12 MR. HERTZBERG: Well, I'm anticipating.
13 THE COURT: All right.
14 MR. LIROT: Well, Judge, with all caution, if
15 we could do an offer of proof, I could read the
16 letter into the record and ask him to authenticate
17 the text of the letter.
18 THE COURT: I think that all you need to do, if
19 we're trying to authenticate the letter, is ask him
20 if he wrote it. Let's just get enough information
21 from him to make sure that this is the same letter
22 we're talking about.
23 MR. LIROT: All right.
24 THE COURT: Such as it's dated May 1st, dated
25 (sic) to Ken Dandar of Dandar and Dandar. It has a
30
1 telephone number or fax number, (813)287-0895, Re
2 conversations with Robert Minton and Stacy Brooks.
3 It's a one-, two-, three-page letter.
4 I mean, if you want, I'll read the whole letter
5 here to get it authenticated.
6 MR. LIROT: I would like that, Judge.
7 THE COURT: All right. Go ahead.
8 BY MR. LIROT:
9 Q Mr. Leipold, I'm going to read this letter. I'm
10 going to ask you to correct anything that you think's
11 incorrect. And I'll ask you to authenticate simply the
12 contents of the letter.
13 And it says --
14 MR. HERTZBERG: Well, wait. Wait. The
15 contents, as I understand, is the substance of it.
16 I think --
17 THE COURT: Do you agree that the letter is
18 authentic and he would testify that this is the same
19 letter? And then we'll argue about the contents or
20 I'm going to have him read it.
21 Do you agree that this is the letter or not?
22 MR. WIENBERG: Yes.
23 THE COURT: And if you don't --
24 MR. HERTZBERG: We do.
25 THE COURT: -- I'll have him read it.
31
1 MR. HERTZBERG: We do. There's no --
2 MR. WIENBERG: If he says it is, that's the
3 letter, that's fine.
4 MR. HERTZBERG: That's all.
5 But he can't testify as to the substance now.
6 That's our position.
7 THE COURT: So the letter's authenticated.
8 MR. LIROT: Fair enough. I won't have to read
9 it.
10 EXAMINATION
11 BY THE COURT:
12 Q Mr. Leipold, the letter that I have in front of
13 me, which I believe is trying to be authenticated, is not
14 signed.
15 A Yes. There's a reason for that, your Honor.
16 Q Let's hear that.
17 A I asked my -- I sent a copy to Mr. Dandar that was
18 signed via fax. He apparently did not get the third page of
19 it. And I simply asked my secretary to send him the copy
20 again, and she simply took the copy off the computer that
21 was not signed.
22 Q So there is a signed copy to be forthcoming
23 somewhere?
24 A I had thought -- I had thought I had sent it to
25 him. But yes, there is a signed copy in my office.
32
1 Q Okay. So -- so the copy that I have that is
2 unsigned, you're confident, is the letter that you're --
3 that you're now authenticating. I don't want you to
4 authenticate something --
5 A I only -- I only wrote one letter to Mr. Dandar on
6 May 1st, and I feel confident it's that.
7 THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
8 DIRECT EXAMINATION (Resumed)
9 BY MR. LIROT:
10 Q Mr. Leipold, have you become acquainted with an
11 individual by the name of Robert Minton?
12 A Yes.
13 Q And can you tell the court -- I don't want any
14 privileged conversation. Just tell the court how you became
15 acquainted with Mr. Minton.
16 A Mr. Minton contacted me sometime around 1997 and
17 he told me that he was, for want of a better word --
18 essentially he explained to me that he was a --
19 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor --
20 A -- very concerned about --
21 MR. HERTZBERG: -- this is conversations --
22 A -- problems with Scientology --
23 MR. HERTZBERG: He's now -- he's now --
24 THE COURT: This is long before, I take it,
25 that he ever represented him.
33
1 MR. HERTZBERG: Well, but we don't know --
2 THE COURT: Is this before you ever represented
3 him?
4 THE WITNESS: Oh, long before I represented
5 him.
6 THE COURT: Overruled.
7 THE WITNESS: And it had nothing to do with the
8 representation. I guarantee that what I just told
9 the court was not attorney-client privilege in
10 California.
11 THE COURT: Was he coming to you in any
12 capacity at that time to ask you to represent him?
13 THE WITNESS: No.
14 THE COURT: All right. Overruled.
15 MR. LIROT: Very good.
16 BY MR. LIROT:
17 Q Mr. Leipold, if you could continue with your
18 description of your acquaintance with Mr. Minton.
19 A Mr. Minton told me that he was -- that he knew my
20 client, Lawrence Wollersheim, and that he knew of an
21 organization that he was running called FACTNet, and that he
22 was interested in helping FACTNet out. He asked me some
23 questions about the Wollersheim action. With the permission
24 of my client, I told him about what the status of the
25 Wollersheim action was. And that was the status of the
34
1 initial conversations I had with him.
2 Q All right.
3 A And I probably didn't talk to him again for
4 another five, six months.
5 Q Can you tell the court what FACTNet is, to the
6 best of your knowledge?
7 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, objection on
8 relevancy grounds. We're going very far afield.
9 THE COURT: Well, I don't know where we're
10 going to go, so if it's not relevant, I'll throw it
11 out.
12 A FACTNet stands -- let's see if I can remember. I
13 think it stands for something -- Fact stands for Fight
14 Against Coercive Tactics, something like that. It's a
15 anticult group. And it was an organization that my client,
16 Lawrence Wollersheim, was very heavily involved in.
17 BY MR. LIROT:
18 Q All right.
19 (A discussion was held off the record.)
20 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, may I make --
21 THE COURT: You can't hear it when we say
22 something here, can you?
23 THE WITNESS: No.
24 THE COURT: In other words, if we're trying to
25 cut you off because an objection is made, that's
35
1 part of the problem with the telephone.
2 THE WITNESS: That's fine. I'll --
3 THE COURT: So --
4 THE WITNESS: -- wait patiently.
5 THE COURT: So if you'll listen real carefully,
6 if you hear something in the background that sounds
7 like objection, if you'll stop, that would be
8 appreciated.
9 THE WITNESS: All right.
10 (A discussion was held off the record.)
11 BY MR. LIROT:
12 Q Mr. Leipold, not asking any privileged
13 information.
14 Did Mr. Minton make any unsolicited offers of
15 donations of funds or tender of funds for use in the
16 litigation involving you and Mr. Wollersheim?
17 A At the time of these conversations?
18 Q At any time.
19 A Well, I -- I don't know if they were unsolicited.
20 You're talking about in the litigation that I was handling?
21 Q Yes, sir.
22 A No. I don't --
23 Well, no. Huh-uh.
24 Q Did Mr. Minton provide any money to you for that
25 case?
36
1 A No.
2 Q All right. Has he provided any money for
3 litigation involving the Church of Scientology or any of its
4 affiliates, to your knowledge?
5 A No.
6 Q I'm talking about Mr. Minton providing any money.
7 A Mr. Minton has never given me any money to
8 litigate any case involving the Church of Scientology other
9 than Mr. Minton did become a director of FACTNet. I did
10 defend FACTNet. And I was paid for defending FACTNet.
11 Q All right. Do you know of cases involving
12 Mr. Minton and the Church of Scientology -- again, not
13 asking any privileged information -- but are you aware of
14 cases where Mr. Minton has been named as a party by the
15 Church of Scientology in other litigation?
16 THE COURT: Why do we have to ask this witness
17 that? Is there not some witness to come into court
18 live, where I don't have to worry with -- with cross
19 examination over a telephone?
20 MR. LIROT: Yes. That's --
21 THE COURT: Then don't ask him that question.
22 MR. LIROT: Very good.
23 THE COURT: He really should be asked about
24 this letter and then we just ought to move on to
25 something else where we have witnesses here in the
37
1 courtroom.
2 BY MR. LIROT:
3 Q All right. Are you aware of Mr. Minton ever
4 creating any documents for -- for any funds he may have
5 provided in any case involving the Church of Scientology
6 regarding a loan or in any way being paid back or working
7 out some particulars regarding the supply of funds in cases
8 involving the Church of Scientology?
9 A I'm going to have to ask you to ask that question
10 over. I missed the first part of it.
11 Q Do you know that Mr. Minton has prepared any
12 documents regarding any funds he may have provided in cases
13 involving the Church of Scientology?
14 A Yeah. I've seen a second affidavit that was filed
15 in, I believe, the McPherson case.
16 Q All right. In any other cases, has he prepared
17 any documents or agreements or any contractual type of --
18 I'll just say paperwork involving funds he's provided.
19 A No, not that I can think of.
20 Q Does Mr. Minton look to be highly formalistic in
21 the way he provides funds regarding cases involving the
22 Church of Scientology?
23 MR. HERTZBERG: Objection, your Honor.
24 A I'm sorry.
25 THE COURT: Wait.
38
1 A I don't know. I'm not sure what that means.
2 MR. HERTZBERG: That was my objection.
3 A I -- I'm not sure what it means. I apologize.
4 (Simultaneous speakers.)
5 EXAMINATION
6 BY THE COURT:
7 Q Has he ever given you a note?
8 A Pardon?
9 Q Have you seen or do you know of any -- I mean, I
10 don't know whether you know of any instances, so if you
11 don't, this question should not even be asked of you.
12 THE COURT: He obviously said it didn't happen
13 in his case.
14 BY THE COURT:
15 Q So are you aware of any other case where
16 Mr. Minton provided funds, other than this case, to
17 litigate, for lack of a better word, against Scientology as
18 a big worldwide organization?
19 A Big worldwide organization?
20 Q Well, that's --
21 A I know he did find -- he did supply funds
22 specifically to fund the defense of the FactNet case. I do
23 know that.
24 Q Any others?
25 A And -- and I have -- I have heard --
39
1 Do you want personal knowledge?
2 DIRECT EXAMINATION
3 BY MR. LIROT:
4 Q Please.
5 A I've heard that he's -- that he's -- he's provided
6 funds in the McPherson case.
7 MR. HERTZBERG: Objection.
8 A But that's not personal knowledge.
9 MR. HERTZBERG: Hearsay.
10 THE COURT: Don't need to object. We know
11 that.
12 BY MR. LIROT:
13 Q Has -- has he loaned money to you or your firm?
14 A Yes, he has.
15 Q And can you tell us how much money he has loaned
16 to you or your firm?
17 A I couldn't tell you exactly, but I believe the --
18 the total amount that he's loaned us is somewhere in the
19 area of around $350,000.
20 Q All right. And what type of documentation would
21 reflect any agreement or payback regarding that loan?
22 A There is a loan agreement.
23 Q All right. And --
24 A I don't know if the loan agreement covers the
25 entire amount, but there is a loan agreement.
40
1 Q All right. Is it a standard loan agreement?
2 A You know, I -- I can't quite say what a standard
3 loan agreement is, but there is a loan agreement.
4 Q All right.
5 A I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary.
6 Q All right. Does it require you to pay back the
7 full amount or does it leave some discretion to paying back
8 Mr. Minton?
9 A Discretion. No. I don't think there's any
10 discretion.
11 Q All right.
12 A I haven't seen -- I haven't looked at the loan
13 agreement in probably four years, but I -- I certainly don't
14 believe there's any discretion to pay it back.
15 THE COURT: I don't want any guessing here,
16 so --
17 THE WITNESS: I'm -- I'm not guessing, your
18 Honor. I haven't seen the loan agreement in four
19 years. But I feel confident that there is -- I have
20 no recollection of there being any discretion
21 involved.
22 BY MR. LIROT:
23 Q All right. I'm going to ask one question
24 cautiously. Have -- have any of the conversations that
25 you've had with Ms. Brooks or Ms. Minton -- Mr. Minton --
41
1 been related to your representation of them in any
2 litigation?
3 A Well, obviously, some of the conversations I have
4 had -- many of the conversations I have had over the years
5 are privileged. However, I think if you're asking about the
6 recent conversations, no.
7 Q And are they parties in the Wollershiem case?
8 A No.
9 Q What was your reaction to their request that it be
10 dismissed?
11 MR. HERTZBERG: Objection, your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Overruled.
13 MR. HERTZBERG: This goes into --
14 A They're not parties to the case.
15 MR. HERTZBERG: This goes into the substance.
16 A I can't have somebody come in and tell me to
17 dismiss the case --
18 MR. HERTZBERG: This --
19 A -- for a client.
20 MR. HERTZBERG: -- goes into the substance of
21 this letter, your Honor.
22 THE COURT: The question was, what was his
23 reaction?
24 THE WITNESS: My reaction was no, I can't do
25 that. It's unethical.
42
1 BY MR. LIROT:
2 Q All right. Would they have any standing to
3 require you to dismiss that case?
4 A Absolutely not.
5 Q All right. And just one question about the loan.
6 Is there any -- is there an interest payment on the loan
7 from Mr. Minton?
8 A Yes, there is.
9 MR. LIROT: All right. Very good.
10 I have no further questions.
11 THE COURT: You may inquire.
12 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, I'm not going to --
13 I want to withhold going into any examination on the
14 substance of the events recited in the letter
15 because I don't want to waive any privilege --
16 THE COURT: All right.
17 MR. HERTZBERG: -- that might be asserted by
18 counsel for Ms. Brooks or Mr. Minton.
19 THE COURT: All right. Counselor, can you hear
20 me?
21 THE WITNESS: Yes.
22 THE COURT: If we have a -- we may get back
23 with you regarding the substance of the conversation
24 between me and Ms. Brooks -- you and Ms. Brooks.
25 The problem we have here is Ms. Brooks is not here;
43
1 her lawyer is not here. While you have said it is
2 not privileged, they may think differently. If they
3 do, I really need to hear them before we ask you
4 what the substance was.
5 THE WITNESS: That's fine.
6 THE COURT: If I rule that it's not privileged,
7 we'll be calling you back so that you can tell us.
8 If I rule that it is privileged and they wish to
9 uphold the privilege, then we won't be calling you
10 back, most likely.
11 THE WITNESS: That's fine.
12 Your Honor, I am currently in my house, because
13 it's 7:00 on the west coast.
14 THE COURT: We appreciate --
15 THE WITNESS: I will be in my office later on
16 today.
17 THE COURT: Right. Thank you.
18 THE WITNESS: And Mr. Dandar has my number.
19 THE COURT: Thank you.
20 THE WITNESS: Thank you very much, your Honor.
21 THE COURT: Wait. We have some questions from
22 counsel.
23 And if you'll introduce yourself and tell
24 him --
25 MR. HERTZBERG: Yes.
44
1 THE COURT: -- who you represent.
2 CROSS EXAMINATION
3 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
4 Q Mr. Leipold, my name is Michael Hertzberg.
5 A I know you well, Mr. Hertzberg.
6 Q You testified about a loan that you received from
7 Mr. Minton. And I believe that was a loan that was given to
8 you or your law firm in May of 1998, correct?
9 A That sounds about right.
10 Q Right.
11 Now, the purpose of the loan was to enable you to
12 form a new law firm at that time, correct?
13 A Correct.
14 Q And that law firm is Leipold, Donohue and Shipe.
15 A Yes.
16 Q Is that right? That's where you currently
17 practice.
18 A No.
19 Q Does that firm not exist anymore?
20 A I -- under that name it does not exist anymore.
21 Q Well, what is your -- what is your current firm?
22 A Leipold and Shipe.
23 Q All right. And prior to the formation of the firm
24 of Leipold, Donohue and Shipe, you practiced at a firm named
25 Carpenter and Murphy, is that correct?
45
1 A No.
2 Q What is the name of the firm that you were at?
3 A Hagenbaugh and Murphy.
4 Q I'm sorry. Hagenbaugh. And Murphy?
5 A Yes.
6 Q Now the purpose of the loan from Mr. Minton was to
7 enable you to form a new practice that could concentrate on
8 litigation in opposition to Scientology, isn't that right?
9 A No.
10 Q I -- I have a letter in my hand dated May 28th,
11 1998 on the Higgenbow (phonetic) and Murphy stationery --
12 A That's Hagenbaugh and Murphy.
13 Q Hagenbaugh.
14 -- with your signature, Daniel A. Leipold, and
15 your signature at the end. And I'm going to read to you
16 from the first paragraph: "Dear Bob, this is re loan to law
17 firm of Leipold, Donohue and Shipe. I appreciate your
18 commitment to me and my partners and your generosity in
19 allowing us to continue our work in opposition to
20 Scientology."
21 Your words. Does that refresh your recollection
22 that --
23 A Well, it --
24 Q -- the purpose --
25 A -- refreshes my recollection, but it isn't the
46
1 reason we -- we got the loan. Certainly, this allowed us to
2 continue to -- to do litigation, but the purpose of the firm
3 was to do general litigation, including litigation against
4 the Church of Scientology. And it was not solely to fund
5 the firm to do litigation against the Church of Scientology.
6 Q All right. I -- my question, as I recall, was not
7 whether that was the sole purpose.
8 But the purpose -- you will agree with me then
9 that the purpose of the loan -- which was for $180,000,
10 correct? You remember that?
11 A Well, okay. Can you re-ask the question in a more
12 intelligible manner?
13 Q All right.
14 THE COURT: I don't need that, Counselor.
15 THE WITNESS: I apologize. But I don't
16 understand the question.
17 THE COURT: Well, I understand that. I do
18 understand --
19 THE WITNESS: Rephrase it; I'll answer the
20 question.
21 THE COURT: I do understand that, and I
22 appreciate your appearing by phone, but I'm frankly
23 quite tired of lawyers calling other lawyers names
24 and what have you.
25 THE WITNESS: I didn't call him a name.
47
1 THE COURT: You said he didn't ask a very
2 intelligent question.
3 THE WITNESS: I -- no, I said unintelligible.
4 THE COURT: I apologize. I thought you said
5 "unintelligent."
6 THE WITNESS: No, no, no, no. Unintelligible.
7 THE COURT: Intelligible. All right.
8 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
9 Q At the time you wrote this letter to Mr. Minton
10 thanking him for his agreement to loan the money, you were
11 entering into an agreement to receive $180,000 from
12 Mr. Minton, correct?
13 A That's correct.
14 Q And it was to be an initial payment of 80,000,
15 correct?
16 A I'm not sure.
17 Q All right. And in this letter, you went on to
18 discuss with Mr. Minton the fact that it was appreciated
19 that this loan was coming at that particular time, because
20 there was some tension in your -- in your present firm, that
21 Higgenbaugh and Murphy firm, about the direction that you
22 and your new partners were going to take with respect to the
23 focus of your practice, isn't that right?
24 THE COURT: How's come --
25 I got a question.
48
1 A Well, gee --
2 THE COURT: Wait a second, sir. Wait a second.
3 How's come it is that you're asking questions
4 here about conversations between him and Mr. Minton?
5 You just went bananas about a privilege. I don't
6 want you asking questions about that either.
7 Is this a letter between him and Mr. Minton?
8 MR. HERTZBERG: Well, this is in the time
9 period, your Honor --
10 THE COURT: Is this a communication?
11 MR. HERTZBERG: It is -- it is a letter -- it
12 is. But your Honor allowed -- allowed him to talk
13 about the fact that he got this loan. And I -- if
14 that came in -- I mean, I made an objection
15 generally to this line. But if that came in, I have
16 to be able to ask him about it, it seems to me.
17 THE COURT: All right. Were you representing
18 Mr. Minton at this time?
19 THE WITNESS: At what time?
20 THE COURT: At the time of the letter.
21 Read the date of the letter.
22 MR. HERTZBERG: May 28th, 1998.
23 THE COURT: May 28th.
24 THE WITNESS: No.
25 THE COURT: 1998.
49
1 THE WITNESS: No.
2 THE COURT: Okay. Go ahead.
3 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
4 Q Isn't it a fact, sir, that your partners at the
5 Higgenbow and Murphy firm --
6 A Hagenbaugh and Murphy.
7 Q Hagenbow - Hagenbaum (phonetic) --
8 A Hagenbaugh.
9 Q Well --
10 THE COURT: Hagenbaugh.
11 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
12 Q -- isn't it a fact, sir, that your partners at the
13 Hagenbow and Murphy firm were concerned that you and several
14 of your other partners were focusing too much on Scientology
15 litigation?
16 A I wouldn't phrase it that way. I think that there
17 was some concern at my firm that Scientology overlitigates
18 cases and uses abusive litigation tactics.
19 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, I move to strike as
20 nonresponsive.
21 A And the concern --
22 THE COURT: You asked the question.
23 A -- was that this would affect the overall
24 performance of the firm.
25
50
1 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
2 Q All right.
3 A These abusive tactics.
4 Q All right. Well, you nonetheless, then, entered
5 into a new partnership with -- with other partners, and you
6 used the funds that Mr. Minton provided you to begin that
7 firm, correct?
8 A Could you repeat the question?
9 Q You nonetheless entered into your new partnership
10 and used the funds provided by Mr. Minton in that loan to
11 conduct the work of the partnership, correct?
12 A Certainly.
13 Q All right. And the work of the partnership
14 involved, in the ensuing years, several matters in court
15 where either Scientology entities or individual
16 Scientologists were parties, correct?
17 A It included that, yes.
18 Q And in fact, you then later got a significant
19 further amount of money from Mr. Minton, didn't you?
20 A Yes.
21 Q In excess of $450,000, sir?
22 A No.
23 Q All right. How much more money would you estimate
24 that you got from Mr. Minton?
25 A Well, it depends on what you mean by got. Do you
51
1 mean loaned or do you mean received?
2 Q I will ask both parts.
3 First of all, how much further money did
4 Mr. Minton loan you beyond the initial $180,000?
5 A I think probably roughly the total amount,
6 including that $180,000, would be around 360.
7 Q Okay. And beyond the loans, did he not furnish
8 you with further funds?
9 A Well, he paid me for work done.
10 Q Right. And he paid you for work done in those
11 cases involving Scientology entities and individuals,
12 correct?
13 A Well, as far as I knew, those were the only people
14 that were harassing him legally --
15 Q You know --
16 A -- but yes.
17 Q -- that question just asked for a yes or no
18 answer.
19 A Well, no, it didn't, but that's okay.
20 Q And you have testified that in those cases --
21 By the way, have you paid back any portion of the
22 money that was loaned to you by Mr. Minton up to now?
23 A Yes.
24 Q A very inconsequential portion of that amount.
25 THE COURT: Really, Counselor. I'm just not
52
1 going to let you go there. We're here today to do a
2 very limited thing. They put this guy on to see
3 whether or not he was loaned any money. He said he
4 was. If you dispute that, get into it. If you
5 don't dispute that, what all this is about, I have
6 no idea, but I want it ended pretty quick.
7 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
8 Q Now, in those cases we just alluded to --
9 A I'm sorry. You're going have to talk more
10 directly into the phone.
11 Q In the cases you just alluded to --
12 A I didn't allude to any cases.
13 Q We're talking generally about Scientology cases.
14 A All right.
15 Q You knew Stacy Brooks, Vaughn Young and Jesse
16 Prince as affiants, correct?
17 A I didn't understand the last part of what you
18 said.
19 Q You used those witnesses' affidavits --
20 THE COURT: He already said he did.
21 MR. DANDAR: Judge, he needs to get closer and
22 not move around too much.
23 THE COURT: We don't need to hear questions
24 that were already asked and agreed to. He said
25 that.
53
1 BY MR. HERTZBERG:
2 Q Now, Mr. Minton also lent a large amount of money
3 to Mr. Wollersheim, did he not?
4 A Mr. Minton did what?
5 Q He lent a rather significant amount of money to
6 Larry Wollersheim, did he not?
7 A I think he lent some money to FACTNet.
8 Q Didn't he also lend a large amount of money to
9 Mr. Larry Wollersheim, your client in the California action?
10 A I'm not sure that he did.
11 Q Are you aware of the fact, sir, that Mr. Minton
12 has made a UCC filing with a lien against any proceeds that
13 would be recovered by Mr. Wollersheim, your client in the
14 Los Angeles case?
15 A Yes. But I'm not sure that that's the secure loan
16 to Wollersheim.
17 Q But you are aware that there is such a lien.
18 A Oh, yes.
19 Q And you had an involvement -- you've had
20 involvement in the case here in Florida, have you not, in
21 various capacities?
22 THE COURT: What -- we're going to have to
23 stop. What is it you're trying to accomplish by --
24 A What cases?
25 THE COURT: Excuse me. Stop, if you will.
54
1 What is it you're trying to accomplish? They
2 put this man on -- I don't know what's in the letter
3 because I haven't had a chance to read it -- to say
4 that Mr. Minton loaned them some money. I think he
5 was trying to establish that he loaned him some
6 money without documents. That failed. So we're
7 down to, he loaned them some money.
8 Now, do you dispute that? And if you dispute
9 they loaned him some money --
10 MR. HERTZBERG: No, I don't.
11 THE COURT: -- get into that.
12 MR. HERTZBERG: No.
13 THE COURT: But otherwise, you are gone well
14 beyond the purpose of this hearing. And I can't
15 wait for people to object, because this hearing is
16 before me, and we're not going there. I don't care
17 about all this.
18 MR. HERTZBERG: What I want to show now -- I
19 want to --
20 THE COURT: What is it you're trying to show?
21 That he's lying about giving money?
22 MR. HERTZBERG: No. No. I'm in a new area
23 now, Judge Schaeffer.
24 THE COURT: Well, what about?
25 MR. HERTZBERG: I want to show --
55
1 THE COURT: Then you call him in your case.
2 You're well beyond the scope. It's just that
3 simple. We're not going to have it. This is not
4 going to be an hour and a half on a witness that has
5 testified he got some money from Mr. Minton.
6 MR. HERTZBERG: I -- let me just make a
7 proffer.
8 THE COURT: No. We're not going to make a
9 proffer. You're going to call him in your case.
10 It's just that simple. You're well beyond the
11 scope. I can't wait around for counsel to object.
12 You're taking a lot of my time. I've got four days
13 to do this and I plan to get it done.
14 MR. HERTZBERG: All right, Judge Schaeffer. I
15 will reserve the right.
16 THE COURT: To call him in your case.
17 MR. HERTZBERG: In my case. And also to
18 further -- after the privilege issue is sorted out,
19 I have some very specific questions to ask him, if
20 he's allowed to --
21 THE COURT: I don't need to hear this and he
22 doesn't need to hear it. Do you have any more
23 questions about the loan?
24 MR. HERTZBERG: No, I don't.
25 THE COURT: All right. Thank you, sir.
56
1 THE WITNESS: Thank you, your Honor. I
2 appreciate it.
3 THE COURT: Now you may call your next witness.
4 This letter, I presume, is authenticated.
5 We'll deal with it later.
6 MR. LIROT: Very good, Judge.
7 Judge, I'd like to call Kennan Dandar.
8 THE COURT: And Counselor, maybe you don't care
9 how long this takes, but I do. There's no jury
10 here. There is no jury here. There's no reason for
11 you not to object to things that are beyond the
12 scope, repetitive, asked and answered and on and on.
13 MR. HERTZBERG: Judge, I --
14 THE COURT: You're not going to offend me by
15 your objections.
16 I can't, quite frankly, imagine that we're
17 going to go on and on and on and on and on, like
18 what happened up in Clearwater, because I'm not
19 going to have it, and I'm going to expect you to do
20 some objecting here, unless you just curiously like
21 to hear the same thing four or five times.
22 MR. HERTZBERG: No, Judge. Please -- please
23 don't let my politeness be perceived as any failure
24 to object.
25 THE COURT: Well, it is, and I saw it over and
57
1 over and over in Clearwater, and I thought perhaps
2 you were being polite. You don't need to be polite
3 to me. I'm not going to be polite to you, beyond
4 what's required.
5 I want this chase to proceed. I want us to get
6 done with these witnesses.
7 MR. HERTZBERG: Very good, your Honor.
8 _______________________________________
9 KENNAN DANDAR,
10 the witness herein, being first duly sworn, was examined
11 and testified as follows:
12 THE COURT: You may proceed.
13 BY MR. LIROT:
14 Q Please state your name, and spell your last name
15 for the record, sir.
16 A Kennan, K-e-n-n-a-n, Dandar, D-a-n-d-a-r.
17 Q And can you --
18 THE COURT: Let me -- let me ask you this. You
19 have, still, cross examination of what they had put
20 him on for in their case. You want to put him on
21 and not only cross examine him about that but
22 actually go ahead, since they don't have their next
23 witness here until the afternoon, I take it?
24 MR. FUGATE: Judge, as I understand what
25 Mr. McGowan said, he would have her here in the
58
1 afternoon.
2 THE COURT: So the answer to my question is
3 that's right --
4 MR. FUGATE: That's right.
5 THE COURT: -- you have no witness --
6 Thank you.
7 Then if you would like to put him on out of
8 order, since we have -- it's 10:30. I have no
9 objection, if they don't have any objection, to them
10 calling him as if, when you rested, they would call
11 him.
12 Is that okay?
13 MR. LIROT: I think that's an efficient way to
14 get it done, Judge.
15 THE COURT: If you want to.
16 MR. WIENBERG: That's fine with us.
17 THE COURT: Does that make sense?
18 MR. WIENBERG: It makes sense.
19 THE COURT: I mean, if you're ready to do that.
20 MR. LIROT: I'm ready, Judge.
21 THE COURT: Let's just go ahead and assume that
22 part of this is cross examination and part of this
23 is your case and you call him as your witness.
24 MR. LIROT: Very good, Judge. And I'll move
25 expeditiously.
59
1 THE COURT: Well, I suppose this is a very
2 important part of your case. But you -- you are
3 either going to be confined to the cross or you're
4 not. And I think now what we realize is you can go
5 ahead beyond the scope of that redirect and -- as if
6 you were putting him on for whatever purpose you
7 wanted to put him on related to this proceeding.
8 MR. LIROT: Excellent. Thank you, Judge.
9 BY MR. LIROT:
10 Q Mr. Dandar, you came at some point to represent
11 the estate of Lisa McPherson, did you not?
12 A Yes, I did.
13 Q And can you tell the court how that evolved?
14 A That evolved when I received a phone call from
15 the -- Ann Carlson, to call her. And I did. And she told
16 me about the Lisa McPherson death; and if I would come to
17 Dallas, Texas and meet with her and her sisters to talk
18 about it. And I said, "Sure. I'm on my way --" I happened
19 to be on my way to California the following week -- I think
20 it was the following week to take a deposition in San Diego
21 with a -- a layover in Dallas.
22 I got there, I met Dell Liebreich, I met Ann
23 Carlson. I extended my layover. I drove over and met Fanny
24 McPherson. I stayed at her house for three or four hours,
25 talking with her, while she was on oxygen, and had her sign
60
1 a retainer agreement. And Dell Liebreich signed the
2 retainer agreement. And then I went on to San Diego.
3 Q Was your discussion with Fanny McPherson relative
4 to your representation of the estate in this matter?
5 A Yes, it was. We talked --
6 THE COURT: The estate? Maybe she knew she was
7 dying. Is that --
8 THE WITNESS: Yes.
9 THE COURT: Okay.
10 THE WITNESS: She was on Hospice care and she
11 in fact died five days later.
12 BY MR. LIROT:
13 Q And after that, did you file a complaint in this
14 action?
15 A Yes. When I got back, we prepared the estate
16 papers for Lisa McPherson and Federal Expressed them over
17 and they came back signed. And the ones that needed to be
18 notarized were notarized; the ones that just had a signature
19 page of Fanny McPherson and Dell Liebreich were properly
20 filled out.
21 We filed it with the probate court, got letters of
22 administration, and then in February, we filed the wrongful
23 death suit.
24 Q Okay. Now, at the time you filed the original
25 complaint in this action, had you done any extensive
61
1 discovery or presuit investigation about the Church of
2 Scientology or any of the other issues that later arose in
3 the case?
4 A No. I didn't know anything about the Church of
5 Scientology. You know, I knew they were located in the
6 Ft. Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater; I knew they had
7 naval -- blue naval uniforms; they walked between the
8 buildings, up and down the street, and that's it. And they
9 had a sprinkle of some Hollywood stars.
10 Q All right. Did -- not to ask any privileged
11 questions, but did Fanny McPherson or anybody that you spoke
12 to in that presuit discussion -- did they know anything
13 about the Church of Scientology?
14 A Oh, they did. Fanny McPherson called them a cult.
15 Fanny McPherson was extremely upset that they had killed her
16 daughter. Her surviving child. And she wanted me and made
17 me promise to pursue them and expose them for what they did
18 to Lisa McPherson and to bring all responsible parties into
19 court.
20 Q All right. Did they know anything, actually,
21 about the inner workings of the church?
22 A No.
23 Q All right. And at that point in time, did you
24 know Robert Minton?
25 A No. Not at all.
62
1 Q So you filed the original complaint, and then
2 after that, you engaged in discovery.
3 A Well, I filed the original complaint, and I got
4 bombarded with -- people called me up, wanted -- they found
5 out about it -- and people claiming to be former
6 Scientologists and people being critics of Scientology. And
7 then I just conducted discovery.
8 Q All right. And did those telephone calls guide
9 you in any way in any of the questions or the way you framed
10 your discovery requests?
11 A Well, those -- well, it did help with discovery,
12 but it also led me to meet Vaughn Young and his wife at that
13 time, Stacy Young, who is now Stacy Brooks. And I flew to
14 Seattle and met with them to discuss what this was all
15 about, Scientology.
16 Q Can you tell the court who Vaughn Young and Stacy
17 Brooks were, to your knowledge, at that point in time?
18 A Well, when I met them, I got a history on both of
19 them. Both Vaughn and Stacy worked for OSA. At the time it
20 was called the guardian's office. It was the legal/dirty
21 tricks, undercover work --
22 MR. WIENBERG: Objection, your Honor.
23 THE COURT: Sustained.
24 THE WITNESS: I'm just saying what they told
25 me.
63
1 THE COURT: Well, that is not what they called
2 it, so -- OSA is not called "dirty tricks," I don't
3 suppose.
4 THE WITNESS: Well, he told me what they --
5 what they did.
6 THE COURT: Well, that's --
7 THE WITNESS: Okay.
8 MR. WIENBERG: Well, then also objection to
9 hear- -- at some point -- I know that this isn't a
10 trial, but at some point I'm objecting to hearsay
11 too.
12 THE COURT: All right.
13 BY MR. LIROT:
14 Q Just -- who did you understand Vaughn Young and
15 Stacy Brooks to be at that point in time?
16 A Well, Vaughn Young was the public relations person
17 for the mother church, as far as I can remember now.
18 EXAMINATION
19 BY THE COURT:
20 Q At the time you --
21 I'm sorry, Mr. Dandar --
22 A No.
23 Q At the time you talked to him, he was that?
24 A No. He had been out of -- as a member of the
25 Church of Scientology for quite some time. And I couldn't
64
1 possibly tell you when that was. Stacy Brooks, his wife,
2 was also out of the Church of Scientology at that time.
3 And they just started to educate me immediately
4 about the Church of Scientology. They started to tell me
5 the structure of the hierarchy, who controls it, who has the
6 power to do things. And also, they had known somehow about
7 the death of Lisa McPherson, so they started to tell me
8 about what possibly she had -- may have been going through
9 that led to her death. Because Stacy Brooks had personal
10 knowledge of what is known as the introspection rundown.
11 She has been involved with people who were psychotic and she
12 was there taking care of them, to the extent possible, as
13 part of the introspection rundown.
14 Q She was explaining that procedure to you at that
15 time?
16 A She was -- yeah. You know, this is like all new
17 to me. And so I just --
18 But the interesting part about it is that Stacy
19 Brooks really didn't want to be involved at all in the case.
20 She said she was burned out on being involved in litigation.
21 But Vaughn Young, who is a very intelligent individual,
22 highly educated -- I'm going to say he has a PhD, but right
23 now I can't remember. I think when he joined the Church of
24 Scientology he was going for his PhD -- and he just had a
25 wealth of information.
65
1 DIRECT EXAMINATION (Resumed)
2 BY MR. LIROT:
3 Q All right. You state that it -- you believed
4 Stacy Young to be burned out -- Stacy Brooks, I'm sorry --
5 to be burned out. Were you aware of her participation in
6 other litigation involving the Church of Scientology?
7 THE COURT: I'm sorry. I know you all are
8 going to just hate me, but I'm trying to learn as
9 much about what's happening here so I can better
10 understand things.
11 EXAMINATION
12 BY THE COURT:
13 Q You said Vaughn Young -- did it used to be Stacy
14 Young because they were married?
15 A Yes.
16 Q They divorced?
17 A Yes.
18 Q And so she's taken back her maiden name?
19 A Yes.
20 Q Okay. So Stacy Young and Stacy Brooks are really
21 one and the same people.
22 A Yes.
23 Q Good.
24 A Yes.
25 THE COURT: All right. I'm learning something.
66
1 A So -- I believe that was sometime in -- I'm going
2 to guess -- March of '97; about two months after I filed the
3 suit or thereabouts, give or take. And then I met them
4 again in the summer of '97. This is all before I ever heard
5 the name of Robert Minton.
6 But it turns out, when I finally --
7 Well, I'm just rambling on. I'll stop.
8 DIRECT EXAMINATION (Resumed)
9 BY MR. LIROT:
10 Q Well, okay. In December of '97, you met with them
11 again. And can you tell the court how that impacted the
12 progress of this action?
13 A Well, what had -- what had been going on is that I
14 had my original complaint that I filed, which I filed like a
15 normal wrongful death complaint because all I knew is what I
16 read in the papers and what I saw on Joan Wood's interview
17 on TV, and I didn't know anything about the Church of
18 Scientology whatsoever.
19 And over those months that I first contacted
20 Vaughn Young and Stacy, they -- Vaughn Young was
21 continuously giving me information, trying to educate me on
22 the practices of the Church of Scientology, their history,
23 their criminal history in breaking into the FBI building and
24 the state department --
25 MR. WIENBERG: Objection, your Honor.
67
1 A -- which he was intimately --
2 THE COURT: Sustained.
3 A -- involved with --
4 MR. WIENBERG: Your Honor, my real objection is
5 this isn't really a question and answer; it's just
6 a --
7 THE COURT: I agree with you.
8 MR. LIROT: I'll tighten it up, Judge.
9 THE COURT: You need to answer, and then you
10 need to explain if you need to. And you may do
11 that. But you, I'm going to tell the same thing as
12 I mentioned to previous counsel. This is a hearing
13 to determine whether or not there is a reason to
14 dismiss the complaint; this is a reason to determine
15 whether or not there has been a fraud on the court
16 therefore; and whether or not this lawyer committed
17 acts of perjury, fraud and what have you that would
18 allow me or require me or have me exercise my
19 discretion in such a fashion to dismiss him from the
20 case regarding the wrongful death. That's what this
21 is about.
22 MR. LIROT: Understood.
23 THE COURT: This is not about the whole history
24 of the case; this is not why the lawsuit was filed
25 the way it is. That has nothing to do with it.
68
1 There are issues here -- seems like there were
2 three. They identified the three yesterday. I
3 think they're right. I think those are the issues.
4 The question is, what about those issues; what do we
5 need to know about those issues?
6 And obviously, if you have to go somewhere else
7 to have me understand some of this, I do understand
8 that and that's permissible.
9 Now we're saying, well, he filed the first
10 complaint and how it went on -- you know, that's not
11 important or relevant, and I'm not -- you know, as I
12 said, my time's limited.
13 MR. LIROT: I understand your time is limited,
14 Judge. And if I could just seek some guidance from
15 the court, it was my understanding that opposing
16 counsel made accusations to the effect that the
17 complaint was amended to try to bring down the
18 church or something along those lines, and I --
19 THE COURT: Okay. All right. I see where
20 you're -- what you're saying. Yes, that was, and
21 yes, I said that could be important, so --
22 MR. WIENBERG: But that wasn't -- the main
23 complaint was in 1999, but --
24 THE COURT: Well, I think what he's suggesting
25 is he needs to get there, so --
69
1 MR. WIENBERG: Go ahead.
2 THE COURT: All right.
3 MR. WIENBERG: I just ask for questions and
4 answers.
5 THE WITNESS: Judge, if you want, just let me
6 tell you what happened and --
7 THE COURT: Yeah. Maybe we could tell us how
8 we got up to the fifth complaint -- I mean, some of
9 it, I know.
10 MR. LIROT: Could we expedite it with a
11 narrative?
12 THE COURT: Yes.
13 MR. LIROT: It's --
14 THE WITNESS: I'll be quick.
15 THE COURT: I'm going to let him expedite this
16 with a narrative as to how we got to the present
17 complaint without going into the legalistics of it.
18 A Okay. So Vaughn Young was helping me draft the
19 allegations of the complaint that concerned not the legal
20 requirements of a complaint, but the factual basis of the
21 complaint. Stacy Brooks, or Stacy Young at the time -- she
22 was, you know, just there. She would talk to me once in a
23 great while. But she would consult and -- if I asked her a
24 question. But she really -- again, it was Vaughn Young that
25 spent most of the time.
70
1 So when I got his drafts in the summer of '97, I
2 went back up there, got educated some more on Scientology
3 hierarchy, Scientology introspection rundown.
4 And the big question in my mind was, why would
5 this woman die like this? And he started to fill me in.
6 And I don't want to say what he said, because that's
7 privileged.
8 So -- and again, at this time, I had never met or
9 heard of Robert Minton. And the only defendant at that
10 time, in the summer of '97, was the corporate defendant. I
11 had no knowledge -- well, I may have started acquiring
12 knowledge of the individuals through discovery --
13 THE COURT: I'm looking at your first
14 complaint. It does have defendant, Church of
15 Scientology d/b/a Church of Scientology Flag Service
16 Organization, Inc.
17 THE WITNESS: Right. That's as much as I knew.
18 I mean, I didn't know --
19 A So anyway, in reference to Robert Minton, I
20 received an interrogatory from the Church of Scientology and
21 said, "Has Robert Minton given you any money? If so, how
22 much?" And this is while we were over in Tampa.
23 And so I went on the Internet. And I was a novice
24 at the Internet. And I said, "Who in the world is Robert
25 Minton and why do they think --" and I think they even had
71
1 in the interrogatory a hundred thousand dollars. I think.
2 I'm not sure. The record will speak for itself. I said,
3 "Who's Robert Minton? Why does the Church of Scientology
4 think they -- he has given me any money?" Because up until
5 that time, I heard accusations from the church that the
6 Clearwater Police Department gave you money; the German
7 government gave you money --
8 MR. WIENBERG: Objection, your Honor.
9 THE COURT: Overruled.
10 MR. WIENBERG: Well, I don't know what the
11 question is.
12 MR. LIROT: It's a narrative to expedite the
13 creation of the fifth amended complaint.
14 A So I got on the Internet, said, "Who's Robert
15 Minton?" And the next thing, within a few days, Robert
16 Minton -- a person calls me up and says, "I'm Robert
17 Minton." I said, "Well, you know, why do they think you
18 gave me money?" And he told me Elliott Abelson, the general
19 counsel for the Church of Scientology in California,
20 their -- you know, their main general counsel, Elliott
21 Abelson, had a telephone call with Robert Minton either in
22 September or August of '97, accusing him of funding. And I
23 have -- I even have a letter from Elliott Abelson to Robert
24 Minton somewhere -- accusing him of funding people who want
25 to sue the Church of Scientology, and warning him that the
72
1 Church of Scientology would sue him for this and demand
2 great damages.
3 And he laughed that off, and he said, "I'd like to
4 send you some money. Since they think it's such a terrible
5 idea, it must be a good idea. So I'll send you some money."
6 And I said, "Well, you know, I don't know who you are." He
7 said, "Well, you met me before. Not really, but I was in a
8 room in Clearwater at a motel during a picket or a
9 demonstration in March of '97, and you were sitting in the
10 room. I brought over bagels and coffee for Larry
11 Wollersheim." 'Cause I met him for the first time, and I
12 thought he was a wealth of information as well. And he was
13 the first person I contacted that was a wealth of
14 information.
15 And he -- Robert Minton told me, "I was sitting in
16 the motel room. I'm the guy that didn't say a word." And I
17 remember that. There was a guy in there that just sat there
18 and didn't say anything. Everyone else was talking to me
19 about the Church of Scientology.
20 So I said. "Fine. Before you send me any money,
21 let me call up the Florida Bar." Because no one -- in '97,
22 I'd been practicing law now since '79; no one's ever offered
23 to send me money on a case. Except my clients.
24 So I called up the Florida Bar. I said, "I have a
25 third party that wants to send me money. He's not my
73
1 client. What do I do?"
2 THE COURT: Who did you call? Was it -- was it
3 the hot line?
4 THE WITNESS: The hot line. The hot line.
5 A And they said, "As long as your client consents;
6 as long as there's no confidential information divulged
7 without your client's consent; and as long as he doesn't
8 control the litigation, you can do whatever you want to, if
9 he wants to send you money."
10 So I put that in the letter to Robert Minton later
11 on.
12 First he sent me the money. It was a hundred
13 thousand dollars. And he sent me a note, which is in the
14 exhibits filed with Judge Baird, and said, you know, "Here's
15 the money."
16 THE COURT: I think your letter -- I don't know
17 if your letter's in, but I know I saw some
18 documentation that was in before Judge Baird, and I
19 assume it's included.
20 THE WITNESS: I always called that letter a --
21 ripped off in a Kleenex box, and that was --
22 THE COURT: Oh, yeah.
23 THE WITNESS: -- incorrect.
24 THE COURT: I had that question. What is that?
25 THE WITNESS: Yeah.
74
1 THE COURT: -- that? I didn't see any Kleenex
2 box on the --
3 THE WITNESS: What it is --
4 THE COURT: -- box.
5 THE WITNESS: -- is the --
6 Did we bring the original? No.
7 What it is is, it's a -- it's a card that has
8 printed on the top of it, "Robert Minton." And he
9 tore it. So it was torn. And I don't know why it
10 was torn. But it's all hand -- handwriting of his
11 on the front and then on the back. So it comes out
12 in the exhibit as two pages.
13 THE COURT: Okay. So when you speak of the
14 Kleenex box, that copy is what you're referring to.
15 THE WITNESS: Yes.
16 THE COURT: That's what was written on the
17 Kleenex box or on a -- a piece of cardboard.
18 THE WITNESS: It's a card.
19 THE COURT: Okay.
20 THE WITNESS: Some kind of card or stationery
21 of some type.
22 THE COURT: Okay.
23 A So he said, "I'm going to send you a check for a
24 hundred thousand dollars, just to let you know that I'm for
25 real." And I thought I was being set up right then and
75
1 there. I thought, "No one sends a check out for a hundred
2 thousand dollars."
3 So he sends the check. I deposit the check, I
4 wait, and it clears. And I said, "Well, this man's for
5 real."
6 BY MR. LIROT:
7 Q I guess I'll ask one question. Did you deposit
8 the check?
9 A Because I -- first time I ever heard of this and
10 heard of him, I deposited the check in my trust account.
11 And I went on litigating the case. By that time,
12 I had a great amount of money of my own already invested in
13 the case, 'cause I -- I was paying Vaughn Young; I was
14 hiring physicians to look at the case, to see why Lisa
15 McPherson died.
16 Did I answer all that? What was the question?
17 THE COURT: Why did you --
18 BY MR. LIROT:
19 Q Why did you deposit it in your trust account?
20 A Oh.
21 That's why I deposited it in my trust account.
22 Because I didn't know who this guy was and I wanted to make
23 sure that was the right place to put it. It was made
24 payable to Dandar and Dandar, and my trust account is the
25 only account that we use to keep track of costs for cases on
76
1 each case. So it goes into the trust account. There's a
2 ledger. From the ledger, it goes into the computer billing
3 program.
4 Q So if the money was shady, you could send him back
5 a trust check.
6 A Shady?
7 Q Or if you had any concerns about the money.
8 A Well, if I had any concerns --
9 Q Or the manner in which it was tendered.
10 A Yeah. I could send it back if something strange
11 happened.
12 Q So Mr. Minton provided that money and you called
13 the Florida Bar. Please continue for the court.
14 A All right. So after I called the Florida Bar,
15 after I had his money, I decided to send him a letter
16 outlining the rules that the Florida Bar quoted to me over
17 the ethics hot line, telling him the specifics; tell him I
18 had already called my client, who said she thought that was
19 wonderful that somebody was going to send me money. Because
20 it -- our arrangement was that I had to advance all the
21 money and not to look at them in the event I lost. All the
22 money was my responsibility.
23 THE COURT: Where is that letter? Did that
24 ever get into evidence --
25 THE WITNESS: Yes.
77
1 THE COURT: -- up in Clearwater?
2 MR. LIROT: That was introduced --
3 THE COURT: Was that part of the exhibits --
4 MR. LIROT: It was introduced before Judge
5 Baird.
6 THE COURT: Okay. I thought it had, but I'm
7 not sure.
8 THE WITNESS: It's an October 6th, '97 letter,
9 I believe.
10 THE COURT: Do you remember what number it was?
11 MR. LIROT: Judge, I'm trying to find it right
12 now.
13 MR. WIENBERG: This is the letter to
14 Ms. Liebreich. Is that what you're --
15 THE COURT: Basically stating he'll advance the
16 costs?
17 THE WITNESS: That's another letter. This is
18 the letter to Robert Minton --
19 MR. WIENBERG: Okay.
20 THE WITNESS: -- October, '97.
21 THE COURT: Oh.
22 THE WITNESS: There's a letter to Ms. Liebreich
23 that has nothing to do with Robert Minton; that just
24 confirms my first meeting with Dell Liebreich and
25 Fanny McPherson, where I -- I had them sign a form
78
1 contingency fee agreement, which says, "You're going
2 to pay the costs, win or lose --"
3 THE COURT: Did you try to get that in at the
4 hearing and you didn't get it in?
5 THE WITNESS: I defer to Mr. Lirot. I think
6 you might be right about that.
7 MR. FUGATE: Exhibit 9 is the letter you asked
8 about, Judge --
9 THE COURT: Okay. Thanks.
10 MR. FUGATE: -- that went to Mr. Minton.
11 THE COURT: I seem to have --
12 MR. DANDAR: Judge, you want me to look for it?
13 THE COURT: No. I see. I've got -- I've got
14 two books. So let me go to 9 here.
15 Okay. I've got it. And I do remember seeing
16 it. Thanks.
17 THE WITNESS: Okay. That's the letter to
18 Mr. Minton.
19 THE COURT: Right.
20 THE WITNESS: Okay. And that spells out the
21 particular Florida Bar rules that I was quoted and
22 instructed on how to handle this.
23 BY MR. LIROT:
24 Q Did the Florida Bar tell you you had to write that
25 type of letter every time that you received money?
79
1 A No. No. They just told me that it would be
2 better to put it in writing to make sure he understood that
3 he had no control and he wasn't getting any confidential
4 information unless my client agreed he could have
5 confidential information.
6 Q All right. Putting Mr. Minton aside for a moment,
7 could you continue your narrative to the court about your
8 progress of the complaint, and how we got to the fifth
9 amended complaint?
10 A All right. So as the -- more discovery took
11 place, I discovered that there were individuals who were
12 highly involved in the care and treatment of Lisa McPherson,
13 people who were in their medical liaison office, including
14 Janis Johnson and Mr. Houghton. Mr. Houghton, at that time,
15 was an unlicensed dentist. Well, at the time of Lisa
16 McPherson's stay at the hotel.
17 And then I found out about Alain Karduzinski. And
18 the file will reflect this, not my brain, but I can't
19 remember when I tried to take depositions.
20 But I also found out about Lisa McPherson's
21 employer, Bennetta Slaughter, causing her great emotional
22 distress during 1995. And I knew Lisa McPherson was
23 psychotic; she took her clothes off in the middle of the
24 street. So I also added her on.
25 And I added -- as a defendant.
80
1 And I added Karduzinski, Janis Johnson and David
2 Houghton as defendants, and I also added Bennetta
3 Slaughter's company, AMC Publishing Company, where Lisa
4 McPherson worked. And this was because of all the
5 information I was gathering.
6 And if I had taken some depositions up to that
7 point in time, I really can't tell you that.
8 Q Did you know Bennetta Slaughter to have an
9 affiliation with the Church of Scientology in some way?
10 A Well, I knew that she and her husband were, like
11 Lisa McPherson, public members of the Church of Scientology.
12 I knew that the business was operated under Scientology
13 technology, known -- and it was also a member of the World
14 Institute of Scientology Enterprises with the acronym of
15 WISE. And I gathered all this information from January of
16 '97 until I filed the first amended complaint.
17 And the file will reflect when I filed the first
18 amended complaint. I can't remember.
19 THE COURT: The -- I'm looking at it myself, so
20 I have it. I'll make the record clear. It doesn't
21 have a date of filing, but it does have a date of
22 service of 4th of December, 1997, being delivered to
23 Morris Weinberg --
24 THE WITNESS: Okay.
25 THE COURT: -- and Laura Vaughn. Laura Vaughn?
81
1 THE WITNESS: Yes. Laura Vaughn.
2 MR. FUGATE: That's right.
3 THE COURT: Okay. And that is styled First
4 Amended Complaint, Demand for Trial by Jury. And at
5 this time, the defendants -- apparently the
6 plaintiffs stayed the same -- are Church of
7 Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., Benetta
8 Slaughter, semicolon, Produx -- Prodex, Inc., a
9 Florida corporation, doing business as AMC
10 Publishing Company; Janis Johnson, MD; David
11 Minkoff, MD; Alain Karduzinski and David Houghton,
12 DDS. That's the style. And that's the date that it
13 was served.
14 THE WITNESS: Right.
15 THE COURT: That's the first amended complaint.
16 THE WITNESS: I forgot about David Minkoff, MD.
17 That's right. Okay.
18 A None of this had to do with Robert Minton. This
19 had to do with my own investigation. All my own
20 information-gathering, speaking with Vaughn Young --
21 THE COURT: Okay. Let me --
22 A -- putting this all together.
23 THE COURT: Let me -- if you will, let me read
24 this, because I've only ever read the fifth amended
25 complaint. And this could be important. And I know
82
1 this is a, you know, problem for you guys, that --
2 but I can't keep up with this. I've got to do it
3 slow. So let me read this.
4 Plus, it seems like a good time for a break.
5 MR. LIROT: I was going to say, I've had a lot
6 of coffee. If you'd like to read it during a
7 break --
8 THE COURT: All right. Let's do it. Let's
9 take a 20-minute break -- or -- no, 15 to 20. Watch
10 for me. I'll wait for you to come back. I'm going
11 to try to read all of these complaints.
12 MR. FUGATE: And I've got copies of the two
13 transcripts, which I'll give to Mr. Lirot to look
14 at.
15 THE COURT: Wonderful.
16 (A recess was taken.)
17 THE COURT: Okay. I didn't have a chance -- I
18 had a couple calls come in. I read most of what --
19 the first amended complaint. Is that the one we're
20 on?
21 THE WITNESS: Yes.
22 THE COURT: I did not have a chance to read the
23 other, so --
24 I forgot. I -- please remind me I've got a
25 conference call at noon on a committee that I chair.
83
1 So I've got to be on the call. So we're going to
2 have to take a break at noon.
3 MR. LIROT: Very good.
4 THE COURT: Okay. And then what we're going to
5 do is interrupt, and let's take Ms. Brooks, so
6 that -- she probably is needing to tend to her
7 business, so --
8 MR. LIROT: As you wish, Judge.
9 THE COURT: All right.
10 BY MR. LIROT:
11 Q Mr. Dandar, before the break we were talking about
12 the progression and metamorphosis of what ultimately became
13 the fifth amended complaint in this action. I think we were
14 up to the first amended complaint. And do you recall about
15 what date you filed that?
16 THE COURT: I think I just told you that it was
17 dated the 4th of December of 1997.
18 MR. LIROT: Very good. Thank you.
19 THE COURT: That's the date of service. So I
20 can only presume it was filed around the same time.
21 THE WITNESS: Right. And that was just before
22 the wrongful death statute of limitations of two
23 years. So prior to that, I was worried about, if I
24 needed to add on anyone else, I needed to do it at
25 that time, because the two-year statute was
84
1 approaching.
2 EXAMINATION
3 BY THE COURT:
4 Q Had you ever sat down and discussed anything with
5 Mr. Minton before you filed that?
6 A Not about this case, no.
7 Q No, I mean, had you had any conversations with
8 Mr. Minton where you sat down in a room and discussed this
9 case with him --
10 A No.
11 Q -- before this date.
12 A No. No.
13 Q Okay.
14 A No.
15 Q You had obviously written a letter, I think, that
16 came before it; he sent you the hundred thousand --
17 A I wrote that letter, that's right.
18 Q And did you have any face-to-face sit-down with
19 him before that?
20 A No, no.
21 Q Okay.
22 A In fact, that's leading up to this now.
23 That happens to be also the time that
24 Mr. Minton -- I believe he came -- well, I'm not sure he was
25 there. Let me think.
85
1 I can't be sure.
2 Q All right.
3 A But there was a vigil on December 4th or 5th of
4 '97, for Lisa McPherson. And -- there had been several
5 vigils on December 5th of 19 -- December 5th of each year
6 except this last, 2001. I can't testify with certainty when
7 the first one was.
8 My contact for the vigil, though, was not Minton
9 or Stacy Brooks or anybody else except Jeff Jacobsen. Jeff
10 Jacobsen was a critic on the Internet for the Church of
11 Scientology. He was never a Scientologist, as far as I
12 know. And I received a lot of information from him, I
13 think, by telephone on -- and he was trying to help me. I
14 never hired him or anything.
15 But I had all this information; I had all this
16 discovery; I had these people that, if I needed to add on --
17 And so the first amended complaint, I did add on
18 people.
19 And thereafter, you know, we had motion after
20 motion after motion to dismiss, dismiss, dismiss; technical
21 little things that were not quite right. And one that
22 stands out in my mind is that I didn't have an allegation in
23 there that Dell Liebreich had the consent of Fanny McPherson
24 to become the personal representative of the estate of Lisa
25 McPherson. So I said, "Sure." I put that in and -- I went
86
1 back and put that in. And of course, now the -- that's --
2 that's been changed into a allegation of forgery of her
3 signature.
4 We eventually went to the fifth amended complaint.
5 I dropped Bennetta Slaughter; I dropped AMC Publishing. I
6 had wrongful -- I had nursing home counts in there that I
7 dropped because I had, in good faith, believed that they
8 were operating as a nursing home or assisted care facility.
9 They were unlicensed. They were practicing medicine without
10 a license. We went through all these different counts. I
11 even had a common law wrongful death count in, rather than a
12 statutory wrongful death count, because I had done my
13 research and the research that I found led me to the
14 good-faith belief that there was a common law cause of
15 action as well as a statutory, and the common law gave you
16 more damages than the statute did.
17 So we went through many amended complaints, many
18 motions. We finally ended up --
19 Let's go now, I guess, to the summer of 1999. And
20 I'm going to try and see if my memory will help me out here.
21 I'm not sure of the first date I met Jesse Prince,
22 but I met Jesse Prince --
23 MR. WIENBERG: Excuse me, your Honor. Is there
24 a question at this point or is it just going to
25 be --
87
1 THE COURT: I'll just kind of let him have a
2 narrative.
3 MR. WIENBERG: Okay.
4 THE COURT: In other words -- I don't really
5 know how to do this without a lot of questions,
6 but --
7 MR. WIENBERG: That's why I haven't objected,
8 but -- but I'm not sure if we still --
9 THE COURT: There's a certain allegation that
10 seems to be permeating that one of the things that
11 goes to the crux of the lawsuit is that Mr. Minton
12 came in, gave money and then the complaint was
13 changed, and all of the intentional, murderous,
14 whatever allegations came along. So he is now
15 trying to explain how he got to the fifth complaint,
16 and I've kind of let him just do it by a narrative.
17 MR. LIROT: It would save us a lot of time,
18 Judge.
19 THE COURT: I think it would. And rather than
20 him just periodically saying, "What happened
21 next --"
22 MR. WIENBERG: Okay.
23 THE COURT: -- I mean, I think we'll just allow
24 him to go on ahead.
25 MR. WIENBERG: All right.
88
1 THE COURT: But that's what I'm -- that's --
2 I'm not interested in other suits that were brought
3 against whatever. I just want to know how and
4 whether or not Mr. Minton -- obviously, the
5 allegation is that Mr. Minton caused, by his
6 donation, this complaint to evolve to where it is.
7 So naturally that is what I'm trying to find out,
8 whether there's any truth to that and, you know, if
9 so, what is it?
10 A Well, let me answer that, 'cause I -- hit the --
11 the nail on the head, as they say.
12 The allegations of why Lisa McPherson died; did it
13 have anything to do with any of the tech or technology or
14 writings of the Church of Scientology -- all of that
15 information was derived from Robert Vaughn Young. Mr. Young
16 has spent 25 years in Scientology. He was the expert on
17 Scientology that had -- that I had met early on in the case,
18 I believe, March of '97. Then I met Larry Wollersheim and
19 then I met others. But he is the one that told me about the
20 introspection rundown. He's the one that told me, without
21 waiving any privilege here --
22 BY THE COURT:
23 Q He's a representative --
24 A Pardon me?
25 No. He was my expert.
89
1 Q Oh.
2 A And he's testified about this in his deposition.
3 Q Okay.
4 A And he is the one who told me that someone
5 psychotic like Lisa McPherson would be immediately reported
6 up the lines to David Miscavige at the very top of the
7 hierarchy of the Church of Scientology, and he is the one
8 that told me that Scientology will and has permitted people
9 to die rather -- for one purpose only, and that is to
10 protect the public relations image of the Church of
11 Scientology.
12 And I'm sitting there, how does that help them if
13 someone dies? And -- but -- and he showed me some
14 information.
15 And that's how these allegations evolved into the
16 first amended complaint, and it continued on throughout
17 until the fifth amended complaint.
18 Jesse Prince -- I believe it was the summer of
19 '99. And I will say absolutely, positively, I never met
20 with Robert Minton to discuss anything that had to do with
21 pleadings, parties, adding on parties, anything like that.
22 Robert Minton was out there on the Internet and he was out
23 there in Clearwater later on -- not even up until this time.
24 He didn't come to Clearwater till the -- December, I
25 believe, of '99, late fall, December of '99. All of this is
90
1 me acting as the lawyer, gathering up information.
2 I tried to gather information from the defendants.
3 They were all pleading the Fifth Amendment on advice of
4 counsel because the criminal charges were still there, and I
5 was going through all these amendments based upon what my
6 experts and consultants were telling me, and never had any
7 input from Mr. Minton whatsoever. Never. Not even till
8 today. Not even up till today. Never.
9 Q Okay.
10 A So Jesse Prince arrives on the scene. He tells me
11 his credentials of his experience in the Church of
12 Scientology.
13 Q About when was that, as best you can recall?
14 A I believe it was the summer of '99. I remember --
15 somebody could correct me -- yeah. I remember flying to Key
16 West, having a meeting with Brian Haney, a former
17 Scientologist; Jesse Prince -- and I think that's when I met
18 him; Dan Leipold, an attorney in California, who has vast
19 years of experience of litigating against the Church of
20 Scientology; and Ford Greene, another attorney from northern
21 California, also with experience in suing religious
22 organizations.
23 That's where I met Jesse Prince, I believe. And
24 that's where we talked and talked and talked. And he flew
25 back with me to my office, and we just started talking. And
91
1 I retained him sometime, I believe, thereafter as a expert,
2 as a consultant. And that's when he came up and told me
3 about -- based upon -- he was number two worldwide in the
4 Scientology hierarchy of executives. He was the -- an
5 executive officer -- and I'm forgetting which officer, what
6 position -- of the Religious Technologies Center, which is
7 the corporation --
8 Q Remember, I -- I read that affidavit that he
9 filed.
10 A There you go. Okay. Then you have it all.
11 Q So -- and I recall that he indicates all of the
12 various things that he did and was involved in in the
13 church.
14 A Okay. So that affidavit culminated from him being
15 in my office, having access to the Scientology literature
16 that I had, reading over the files that I had --
17 Q Did you have the preclear files at that time?
18 A I can't tell you. I don't know. I just don't
19 remember.
20 See, if I had my pleadings, I could tell you
21 what -- when everything happened.
22 But -- and it's in the record of -- I mean,
23 there's boxes, I'm sure, of pleadings in this case, so I can
24 find that out if and when you want me to find that out.
25 So he came up with this affidavit. I read over
92
1 the affidavit. It didn't shock me as much -- had he come in
2 '97, it would have shocked me more than reading -- than what
3 I knew by then, in '99. It didn't shock me at all.
4 So that's when I -- I made a decision to contact
5 my client, Dell Liebreich. And I said, "Look, I have Jesse
6 Prince here," and I told him all about -- told her all about
7 Jesse Prince. I said, "I -- I promised Fanny McPherson,
8 just days before she died, that I would pursue everybody
9 that was responsible, and here I have a guy who could
10 connect every -- all the dots all the way up to the very top
11 of the Church of Scientology. He's seen people die because
12 they were given orders to, quote, end cycle. One of them
13 was one of his very close friends. And this person was in
14 charge of litigation previously years ago for the Church of
15 Scientology. He went around the world hiring law firms; he
16 went around telling them how to conduct their litigation --"
17 MR. WIENBERG: Objection, your Honor. Is what
18 is being described is what Mr. Dandar told
19 Ms. Liebreich that Mr. Prince told him?
20 THE COURT: Yes.
21 MR. WIENBERG: Okay.
22 A And I said, "You know, we have --"
23 THE COURT: Did you withdraw your objection? I
24 mean, I think --
25 MR. WIENBERG: It's all hearsay.
93
1 THE COURT: I know. But I think for this
2 hearing and for what's being alleged here, that I'm
3 going to -- I think it just almost has to come in.
4 MR. WIENBERG: I understand. I just wanted to
5 see if this was him saying --
6 THE COURT: That's what I am assuming, that he
7 is saying Jesse Prince told him this; at this point
8 in time he called his client, and he was revealing
9 what he had learned to his client.
10 THE WITNESS: Right.
11 MR. WIENBERG: Okay.
12 THE WITNESS: Right, right.
13 A So as a result of discussing all this with my
14 client and what I had learned from Jesse Prince -- and I do
15 have a jury trial consultant, Dr. Michael Garko -- Jesse
16 Prince, Michael Garko and I were talking --
17 BY THE COURT:
18 Q Who is Michael Garko?
19 A He's a jury trial consultant, PhD --
20 Q Who is this gentleman that always comes to court?
21 A Oh, that's Rick Spector. He's a --
22 Q Spector. Okay.
23 A -- videographer.
24 Q Have I ever met Dr. Garko?
25 A Yes. During the trial that ended in a hung jury a
94
1 month ago --
2 Q Oh, okay.
3 A -- he was in there.
4 And the decision came that we need to go
5 forward -- we have the information, we have an expert
6 witness -- add on these other corporations and other
7 individuals to the lawsuit. So I prepared a motion to amend
8 the complaint.
9 I got a letter from Lee Fugate, when I filed it,
10 saying, you know -- reminding me that there was an agreement
11 that was signed back in December -- November, December of
12 '97, agreeing not to add on parties --
13 Q This is the fifth amended complaint you're talking
14 about?
15 A This is the last one.
16 Well, no, no, no. This is the -- there's many
17 fifth amended complaints. This was the first one.
18 Q Okay. Maybe I don't even have the right one.
19 THE COURT: I presume, Lee, when you gave me
20 this, you gave me the one that is in existence.
21 MR. FUGATE: The one that is operative now.
22 What he's saying is there were a number of
23 iterations before you got to that.
24 THE COURT: Okay.
25 MR. WIENBERG: There was a motion to amend,
95
1 which you may or may not be looking at --
2 THE COURT: I'm not. What Mr. Fugate provided
3 me was the fifth, fourth, third, second and first.
4 So the fifth is the ultimate fifth that we're
5 dealing with.
6 MR. WIENBERG: It's got January of 2000 on it?
7 THE COURT: It says -- no. It says that this
8 is furnished this 21st day of December 1999 --
9 MR. WIENBERG: Yeah. That's right.
10 THE WITNESS: That's the one. That's the last
11 one. The operative one.
12 BY THE COURT:
13 Q And that's the one where, in addition to --
14 Now, some of these people came off. Bennetta
15 Slaughter came off.
16 A Oh, yeah. Right.
17 Minkoff, Dr. Minkoff.
18 Q And her corporation. Was that by court order or
19 was that by your --
20 A Settled -- we just dropped them. We settled with
21 Dr. Minkoff. We dropped Bennetta Slaughter. We dropped --
22 we decided not to pursue them.
23 Q So at the time the fifth amended complaint was
24 filed, you had left: The Church of Scientology Flag Service
25 Organization, Inc., Janis Johnson, Alain Karduzinski, and
96
1 David Houghton, and you added to that David Miscavige.
2 A Well, that's the last complaint, yeah.
3 Q Right.
4 A But we're not there yet. We're almost there.
5 Q Okay.
6 A So when Lee Fugate reminded me of this agreement,
7 in 1997, not to add on additional parties, and in exchange
8 for that, the trial would not be delayed, we would hurry up
9 and get to a trial date, and they would not fraudulently
10 c