Declaration Of Andrew H. Wilson In Support Of Ex Parte Application For Order To Show Cause Re Contempt
ANDREW H. WILSON, ESQ., SBN # 063209
WILSON CAMPILONGO LLP
115 Sansome Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, California 94104
(415) 391-3900
(415) 954-0938 (fax)
KENDRICK L. MOXON, ESQ., SBN # 128240
MOXON & BARTILSON
550 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 700
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 546-5064
(818) 546-5068 (fax)
Attorneys for Plaintiff/Judgment Creditor
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOR THE COUNTY OF MARIN
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
INTERNATIONAL, a California not-for-profit
religious corporation,
Plaintiff, vs. GERALD ARMSTRONG, et al., Defendants. |
) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) |
CASE NO. 157 680
[CONSOLIDATED] DECLARATION OF ANDREW H.
WILSON IN SUPPORT OF EX
PARTE APPLICATION FOR Date: |
I, ANDREW H. WILSON, declare as follows:
1. I am a partner of the law firm of Wilson Campilongo LLP and am an attorney admitted to practice in the State of California. I am one of the attorneys responsible for the representation of the Plaintiff/Judgment Creditor in this action. As such, I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth below and, if called upon to testify on such matters, would and could do so competently.
2. In December of 1986, Armstrong entered into a Mutual Release of All Claims and Settlement Agreement (the "Agreement") pursuant to which CSI paid Armstrong $800,000.00. In exchange for his receipt of such funds, Armstrong promised, in essence, to
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cease disseminating information" concerning CSI and to cease assisting others pressing claims against CSI and related entities.
3. I am informed and believe that, beginning in approximately 1990, Armstrong fraudulently transferred substantially all of his assets and began repeatedly breaching almost every covenant he made in the Agreement.
4. As a result of Armstrong's conduct, CSI brought an action for breach of the Agreement seeking, inter alia, a permanent injunction preventing Armstrong from further breaching the Agreement. Armstrong filed various claims against CSI for breach of the Agreement.
5. The Honorable Ronald Sohigian entered the Preliminary Injunction in late May, 1992. Less than a month later, I was questioning Mr. Armstrong at a deposition when he testified of his intention to ignore the settlement agreement and Judge Sohigian's Order:
A. When, I mean, I have, I have absolutely no intention of honoring that settlement agreement. I cannot. I cannot logically, I cannot ethically. I cannot morally. I cannot psychically. I cannot philosophically. I cannot spiritually. I cannot in any way. And it is firmly my intention to not honor it.
Q. No matter what a court says?
A. No court could order it. They're going to have to kill me.
6. A true and correct copy of page 124 of the Deposition of Gerald Armstrong taken Wednesday, June 24, 1992, in which Mr. Armstrong made this statement, is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit [A].
7. Shortly thereafter, in a declaration of February 2, 1993, Armstrong stated, "I do not believe such non-assistance, covenants or orders are legal or do anything but obstruct the administration of justice and attempt to destroy men's souls." A true and correct copy of pages 1, 9-11 and 29 of said declaration is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit [B].
8. On August 15, 1993, Mr. Armstrong wrote to me, declaring that his breaches of the settlement agreement and of Judge Sohigian's Preliminary Injunction continued unabated, even in Armstrong's sleep. A true and correct copy of the letter which I received
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from Mr. Armstrong, dated August 15, 1993, is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit [C] .
9. On October 17, 1995, this Court granted an Order of Permanent Injunction against Armstrong (the "Order") following certain motions for the Summary Adjudication of Issues by CSI. Such Order was later incorporated into the judgment (" Judgment") entered against Armstrong on May 2, 1996. Attached hereto as Exhibit [D] is a true and correct copy of the Judgment, to which the Order is an exhibit. (The Order and the Judgment are collectively referred to hereinafter as the "Injunction.")
10. Since its entry, there has been no successful challenge to validity of the Order by Armstrong. Armstrong, appearing in pro per, filed a Notice of Appeal regarding the Judgment and Order and, also appearing in pro per, filed Appellant's Opening Brief. Briefing is not yet complete and CSI has moved to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that a party may not simultaneously appeal from an injunctive order while willfully disobeying it. That motion is still pending. The Preliminary Injunction which preceded the Order was affirmed following Armstrong's petition to the Court of Appeals.
11. Armstrong's counsel appeared at the hearing pertaining to the Order and I am informed and believe that he received notice of entry thereof. Armstrong further received notice of entry of the Order.
12. In January 1997, 1 learned of actions by Mr. Armstrong which I believe are clear violations of the Injunction. These actions were brought to the attention of this Court which issued an OSC re Contempt on February 19, 1997 and an Order of Contempt on August 6, 1997.
13. While the preliminary injunction which preceded the Order was in effect, Armstrong willfully disobeyed it on numerous occasions. This gave rise to an earlier Order To Show Cause Re Contempt, which was heard in December 1994 by the Honorable Diane Wayne. I represented CSI at that hearing. Armstrong admitted the violations and pled for mercy from the court. Judge Wayne discharged the contempt but admonished Armstrong to conduct himself appropriately in the future.
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14. Armstrong successfully discharged the approximately $300,000.00 awarded by this Court in damages to CSI in his bankruptcy proceedings. Armstrong failed in his effort to have the Bankruptcy Court discharge him from the contractual obligations upon which the Order is based.
15. On or about September 2, 1997, in violation of the Order, Armstrong created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a documentary work which discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Settlement Agreement. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [E].
16. On or about October 14, 1997, in violation of the Order, Armstrong created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a documentary work which discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Settlement Agreement. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [F].
17. On or about October 14, 1997, in violation of the Order, Armstrong created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a documentary work which discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Settlement Agreement. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [G].
18. Also on or about October 14, 1997, in violation of the Order, Armstrong created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a documentary work which discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Settlement Agreement. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [H].
19. On or about October 20, 1997, in violation of the Order, Armstrong created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a documentary work which discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Settlement Agreement. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [I].
20. Also on or about October 20, 1997, in violation of the Order, Armstrong created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a documentary work which discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Settlement Agreement. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [J].
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21. On or about October 23, 1997, Armstrong caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a letter which he had apparently written previously to the Hon. Alfonse D'Amato concerning the efforts of CSI to combat religious discrimination in Germany. This action constituted the publication and/or broadcast of a documentary work which discusses CSI and other beneficiaries of the Order. A true and correct copy of said documentary work is attached hereto as Exhibit [K]. In this "letter" Armstrong states that "...this court order is illegal and that Scientology procured it by illegal means. It impermissibly denies me freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association and due process." Exhibit K, p. 1.
The "letter" continues with Mr. Armstrong's litany of false and derogatory charges against CSI and its affiliates with which this Court is all too familiar and with which this Court would not have been further burdened if Mr. Armstrong had simply obeyed the Order.
22. Sometime in early October, in violation of the Order, Armstrong voluntarily and willingly participated in a videotaped interview during which he discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the. Order. Armstrong was informed prior to the interview that it was being recorded for broadcast on British television. I have personally reviewed a transcript of the broadcast which was broadcast over television Channel 4 in Britain on November 19, 1997.
Attached hereto as Exhibit [L] is an accurate transcript of said broadcast. A copy of the videotape is in my possession and can be made available to the Court.
23. I am informed and believe that Armstrong flew to Berlin, Germany sometime in October, where he gave a speech on or about October 26, 1997. In that speech, Armstrong violated the Injunction numerous times by inter alia, making statements about L. Ron Hubbard and complaining that the Church is misusing the U.S. legal system and blaming the Church, the U.S. legal system and even his own attorney for the fact that a contempt citation and arrest warrant has been issued against him. During that same visit, Armstrong gave an interview to the Berliner Zeitung, resulting in an article in that publication, a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit [M] and a translation of which is attached hereto as Exhibit [N]. The gross and obvious nature of the violation of the Injunction committed by Armstrong in giving that interview can be easily ascertained from a simple perusal of the article itself.
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24. I am informed and believe that on October 28 Armstrong traveled to Hamburg, Germany where he appeared at an event sponsored by self-styled "anti- cultists" Renate Rennenbach and Ursula Caberta. (Rennenbach and Caberta have been engaged for the past several years in attempts to discredit the Church through various means and have lobbied various German government entities to essentially legalize discrimination against members of the Church of Scientology because of their Church membership. In fact, Germany has been censored for the past three years by the United Nations and the Helsinki Commission for just such discrimination. The United States Department of State has also found a pattern of human rights abuses by Germany against Church members.) During this appearance Armstrong committed further violations of the Injunctions, making numerous prohibited statements. This appearance was reported on in the October 28th edition of the Frankfurter Rundschau . A true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit [O] and a translation of which is attached hereto as Exhibit [P].
25. I am further informed and believe that on this same trip to Germany, Armstrong gave interviews to at least three television interviewers which resulted in broadcasts on Germany TV channels N-TV, B1 TV and SAT 1 TV. In addition to this, Armstrong was interviewed by the regional newspaper Taz, resulting in the article of October 28, 1997, a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit [Q] and a translation of which is attached hereto as Exhibit [R].
26. Armstrong's most recent violation of the Injunction came on November 26, 1997. On that date, Armstrong created another Internet posting which purported to be a verbatim transcription of a complaint which Armstrong had recently filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. A true and correct copy of this posting is attached hereto as Exhibit [S]. A review of this virtually unintelligible " complaint" reveals its true nature, a cynical attempt to cloak Armstrong's anti-Scientology ravings with the litigation privilege.
27. The recent violations of the Injunction in Great Britain and Germany have forced the Church to expend a great deal of time and money to correct the multiplicity of
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falsehoods and lies which Armstrong has promulgated. Armstrong's claimed expertise concerning the Church, based on nothing more than having been the clerk entrusted with care of certain of Mr. Hubbard's personal files, gives him a superficial credibility, even though he has not been involved in any facet of the Scientology religion since 1981. Evidence of this is the German media's false reference to Armstrong as Hubbard's "biographer." The Church did not pay Armstrong to silence him, but to save itself the time and expense of responding to and correcting every false allegation.
28. 1 notified Mr. Armstrong of this application by letter which was telecopied to Mr. Armstrong, a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference as Exhibit [T].
I declare under penalty of perjury pursuant to the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this 1st day of December 1997 at San Francisco, California.
[signed]
Andrew H. Wilson
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Exhibit [A]
Armstrong Deposition Transcript (page 124) 06-24-1992 [.pdf]
Exhibit [B]
Armstrong Declaration 02-02-1993
Exhibit [C]
Armstrong Letter to Wilson 08-15-1993
Exhibit [D]
Judgment 05-02-1996
Exhibit [E]
Usenet post 09-02-1997
Exhibit [F]
Usenet post 10-14-1997
Exhibit [G]
Usenet post 10-14-1997
Exhibit [H]
Usenet post 10-14-1997
Exhibit [I]
Usenet post 10-20-1997
Exhibit [J]
Usenet post 10-20-1997
Exhibit [K]
Usenet post 10-23-1997
Exhibit [L]
Purported Transcript of 11-19-1997 British Television Broadcast
Exhibit [M]
German Article in Berliner Zeitung [pdf]
Exhibit [N]
English Translation of Berliner Zeitung article [pdf]
Exhibit [O]
Frankfurther Rundschau article 10-28-1997
Exhibit [P]
English Translation Frankfurther Rundschau article 10-28-1997
Exhibit [Q]
Armstrong Interview; Taz
Exhibit [R]
English Translation of Armstrong Interview; Taz
Exhibit [S]
Complaint Armstrong v. Miscavige
Exhibit [T]
Wilson Letter to Armstrong 11-27-1997