Gerry Armstrong--Transcript of Proceedings 04-07-1995

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IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF MARIN

HONORABLE GARY W. THOMAS, PRESIDING DEPARTMENT 1

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL,

Plaintiff,

vs.	No. 157680

GERALD ARMSTRONG, ET AL.,

Defendants.

___________________________/

REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

April 7, 1995

APPEARANCES:

For the Plaintiff:

Laurie Bartilson
Attorneys at Law

For the Defendant:

Gerald Armstrong Pro per

REPORTED BY: JANICE M. KNETZGER, CSR#4434

Janice M. Knetzger CSR#4434

April 7 , 1995

P R O C E E D I N G S

--o0o---

THE COURT: Church of Scientology and Gerald

Armstrong.

MS. BARTILSON: Laurie Bartilson on behalf of

the plaintiff Church of Scientology International.

MR. ARMSTRONG: Gerald Armstrong.

THE COURT: Mr. Armstrong.

MR. ARMSTRONG: I am in front of you again this

morning, Your Honor, to request an extension of one week.

I'm grateful for the extensions which you

have given me in the past and I have a number of reasons

which are grounds which are very important and I think

merit another extension and I will go over those now.

Much of, you know about, the two prior

extensions and that I applied for two weeks last time and

you gratefully gave me a week.

In that week, I have obtained a fax

machine. I have communicated with all of the witnesses

who I need for support of declarations and I lack four

which are very important and I'll go over those now.

First one is Michael Flynn. He is my

former attorney, as you know, and I have in this last week

and particularly the last three days had a series of

communications with him and he has both expressed great

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

sadness and concern over what has transpired and that he

wants to help me.

He said that he will provide a declaration

but that he believes that he will be sued by Scientology,

will be dragged back into the fight with Scientology and

attacked in various ways.

I, therefore, requesting that in addition

to the extension which I need for the reasons which I'm

discussing, I'm requesting an order from the Court that

Mr. Flynn be freed from any contractual obligations

Scientology believes that it has which will prevent him

from giving me a declaration and also ordered to not

retaliate in anyway as a result of his providing such a

declaration.

I think that due process clearly mandates

that such an order be given by the Court to make it

possible for me to obtain the testimony of somebody on

whom I depend for my defense in this very serious matter.

These are the things that Mr. Flynn will

testify to if he is freed to do so: That during the time

and prior to the time that he was involved in litigation,

Scientology used the legal system and force against

perceived enemies and targeted enemies to eliminate men.

This went under the heading of fair game

including the concepts of attack the attacker and black

propaganda.

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

He will testify that Scientology swore to

give up these practices and beg for a settlement.

As a means of obtaining an opportunity to

prove that it had given up these practices, he will

testify that but for Scientology's promise that it was

giving up all fair game practices he would never have

agreed to sign, nor had me or any other client agree to

Scientology's settlement documents.

He will testify that the depth of his and

my principles and extent of desiccation [dedication] to the truth is

manifested by the successful litigation what is known as

the Armstrong one case.

He will testify that intrinsic to the

agreement was the recognition that the Armstrong

cross-complaint was about to go to trial and that

Scientology had substantial liability and the recognition

that there had been a verdict of $30 million against

Scientology in the case of Wallersign [Wollersheim] (,phonetically

spelled) versus Scientology also in L.A. Superior Court

within less than five months of the December 1986

settlement.

He will testify that he was the subject of

fair game from 1979 through 1986, had been sued 15 times

by Scientology, had been harassed unmercifully, framed,

threatened, his marriage ruined, and his family and career

threatened.

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

He was desperate to bet [get] out of the fair

game threat.

He will testify that there were no

negotiations concerning the liquidated damages of the

Settlement Agreement that there were no negotiation also

involving me and he believed that despite Scientology's

refusal to not include the condition it was and is

unenforceable and told me so at the time and that there is

no reasonable relationship between Scientology's actual

damages and the liquidated damages and further that the

bargaining power of the parties was lopsided in

Scientology's favor.

He will testify that there was supposed to

be a clean slate and that if Scientology published

anything about me after the settlement, I was free to

respond to such post settlement statements.

I am, therefore,requesting this Court's

assistance and an order freeing Mr. Flynn to provide this

key testimony.

Lawrence Wallersign (phonetically spelled) [Wollersheim]

seeks an order which reads in part: Within 20 days of

the issuance of this orders, Armstrong shall remove all

material concerning Scientology the church and/or any

person or entity referred to in Paragraph 1 of the mutual

release of all claims and Settlement Agreement of December

1986 from any and all data basis, electronic or otherwise,

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

within the possession, custody, or control of Faxnet

(phonetically spelled). [FactNet]

Mr. Wallershine (phonetically spelled) [Wollersheim] is

the founder and manager of Faxnet (phonetically spelled)

consults abuse victims advocacy organization which

collects, preserved, and make available information on

groups and organizations which employ sophisticated and

dangerous technicians of mind control.

He will testify that I was not involved in

Faxnet's (phonetically spelled) management or operations.

He did testify that Scientology is seeking an order

allowing the removal and/or seizure of materials from a

public library and archive.

That the described materials are not those

I provided and exceed by hundreds of times whatever I

provided to Faxnet (phonetically spelled) and that they

are public domain materials.

He's not been available to give me a

declaration until recently and because the order that

Scientology is seeking in this case the Armstrong case

affects Faxnet (phonetically spelled), he wants to obtain

a legal opinion and run whatever he can provide me by a

lawyer, but that is set to happen this weekend.

Marjorie Wakefield versus Scientology

supports its motion with a ruling in the Wakefield versus

Scientology case.

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

Ms. Wakefield had a Settlement Agreement

which is similar to mine.

I was unable until recently to locate

Ms. Wakefield. I have now done so and she has agreed to

despite the clear danger to her of doing so to provide me

with the declaration and I expect to get that within the

next few days.

There is another witness and this person

specifically asked that the witness not be identified at

this time but will provide a declaration and I expect to

get that declaration also within the next few days.

This is a person who was key to actions

which I took at a particular time when in the early days

of what Scientology calls my breaches of the Settlement

Agreement.

THE COURT: Now is there anything in response.

I've heard enough now.

What do you want to say?

MS. BARTILSON: I would like to say, Your Honor,

that

Mr. Armstrong has, to date, in this case engineered 636

days of delay. Our trial date is May 18th. The Summary

Judgment motions in question are already set for hearing

on April 21st which is only 27 days before trial.

If we move them another week as

Mr. Armstrong would like, we will be 20 days before trial.

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

I don't think that's a good position for

anyone.

My client is certainly unwilling to move

the trial date yet again for Mr. Armstrong's convenience.

He's already had three weeks of extensions from Your Honor

based on exparte applications.

Today is the day his oppositions are due

and we are here on the very day he is due to file them

asking for more time.

As far as his witnesses go, he's known

about Mr. Flynn as a witness since the inception of the

case and he's noticed his deposition twice and taken it

off calendar.

Why he hasn't gotten a declaration from the

man or taken his deposition until now is a mystery to me

if Mr. Flynn will actually say all the things that

Mr. Armstrong thinks he will say.

Unfortunately for Mr. Armstrong, I don't

think that's the case.

When he came before you, before he told you

that he couldn't get help from his friends Mr. Walden and

Mr. Douglas because they were, quote, terrified of my

client.

Both of those gentlemen have since sent

Mr. Armstrong -- they copied me -- objecting to

Mr. Armstrong's false statements to the Court saying there

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

was no such terror. They simply were unable to help him

at the time.

Those are attached to my declaration.

I didn't ask them to do those letters. They

sent them to me.

I think it's a lot of hot air, Your Honor.

I really want those motions to go forward.

If Mr. Armstrong is willing to stipulate to

the entrance of a temporary injunction in line with the

permanent injunction that we're requesting in our Summary

Judgment motion until after the Court has heard the

permanent injunction, then I would be willing to grant a

week's extension -- no problem.

But unless he's willing to enter into that

injunction, I can't see it -- it makes no sense to me.

Time after, time after time we have been

here.

THE COURT: Mr. Armstrong, there is no good

cause to grant you another extension of time.

MR. ARMSTRONG: Your Honor, may I respond?

THE COURT: Time is up. Time is up. The

hearing is going forward. That's it.

MR. ARMSTRONG: I think what Your Honor is doing

is hamstringing me and one week makes no difference to

Scientology in the huge scheme of things. It is only a

week.

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

THE COURT: But as they have indicated --
MR. ARMSTRONG: You first granted --

THE COURT: This matter has been going on some

636 days already. Time is up.

MR. ARMSTRONG: Your Honor, the pending motions

have not been going on 636 days.

It is ludicrous that she declares that

there were 636 days of extensions and delay in this case.

That is simply not the case.

There is already an injunction in place in

this case. She has agreed.

THE COURT: We're not going on any further.

---o0o---

(Whereupon, the exparte matter concluded.)

Janice M. Knetzger CSR #4434

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