Narconon files class action suit against National Association of Forensic Counselors

[CommunicatorIC]

Narconon files class action lawsuit against National Association of Forensic Counselors.

Tony Ortega: Classic Scientology shenanigans as class action lawsuit is filed against legal opponent NAFC
http://tonyortega.org/2014/11/14/cl...lawsuit-is-filed-against-legal-opponent-nafc/

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Yesterday, the National Association of Forensic Counselors filed a pointed response to Scientology leader David Miscavige’s motion to dismiss himself from the NAFC’s massive 82-defendant federal lawsuit against the church and its drug rehab network, Narconon.

As we told you earlier, Miscavige’s motion had been written by one of Scientology’s most colorful legal voices, Jeffrey K. Riffer, who made a name for himself writing bombastic, over-the-top letters to Vanity Fair and CNN in which he made his client, Miscavige, sound more holy than the saints in heaven. And the motion also contained a smeary attack on the NAFC’s president, Karla Taylor, which we expected NAFC attorney David Keesling to answer rather forcefully.

He did do that, but in his response, Keesling also referred to a stunning new development: On October 6, Clark Carr, the president of Narconon International (pictured above and characterized as a “Miscavige lackey” by Keesling), quietly filed a class action lawsuit against the NAFC and Taylor in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming fraud and alleging that his fellow (unnamed) victims number in the untold hundreds.

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NAFC vs. Narconon: Clark Carr Class Action against NAFC
https://www.scribd.com/doc/24655170...nst-NAFC?secret_password=z4NsOgluykWxgA7TKr5o

 

[Free to shine]

Re: Narconon files class action suit against National Association of Forensic Counsel

Interesting stuff!

So, here’s the upshot. Keesling is saying that it was its association with Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon, that got the NAFC caught up in a bureaucratic roadblock in California. But now the president of Scientology’s Narconon International is suing the NAFC, claiming that the NAFC’s complications with California are an example of the NAFC’s fraud. Do you see the circularity of that?

Keesling tells us that yesterday, he had Carr’s class action lawsuit removed to federal court, and he says he’s confident that the NAFC will succeed in getting it dismissed.

John P. • 3 hours ago

I imagine that Miscavige thinks himself rather clever for this maneuver.

I am not a lawyer, of course (though I am a member of the Internet Armchair Barratry League, a far different thing). But I suspect that this latest sleazy (and desperate-sounding) trick will have a very different effect than what he thinks. This, plus the sleazy accusations about the decades-old criminal past of the NAFC founder's husband, is going to backfire by pissing off the court in Oklahoma where the main action is taking place. No court facing complex litigation with tons of defendants in a case like this will appreciate obviously dilatory tactics, and the cult is likely to find its chain getting jerked pretty hard in the future.

Clearly, the idea here is to cost the NAFC enough up-front money that they settle rather than imperil the organization's (probably limited) finances. Any non-profit would have to think twice about spending $1 million on a lawsuit if their total annual budget is only $2 or $3 million. But in this case, all that NAFC has to "sell" is the quality of their reputation, something that the cult is damaging directly by fraudulently claiming membership, and now indirectly by raising the accusations in this class action suit. So they're probably more backed into a corner than they would otherwise be.

Financially, I would suspect that attorney Keesling is working on a modified retainer agreement so he gets paid more if they win, rather than requiring the NAFC to front the entire costs in cash. As a result, I suspect that the NAFC's financial position is less strained than Miscavige perhaps anticipates. Incidentally, when the NAFC wins, I suspect that there are clauses in the standard NAFC agreement that says that if litigation is required to enforce the certificate holder's behavior, they're responsible for the NAFC's court costs plus damages, so there's not really a way for them to avoid paying up once judgment is rendered.

Finally, I wonder if the firm bringing the class action in LA is experienced in class action suits. I know from a few school buddies who are as wealthy as your average Global Capitalist from specializing in class action suits (think: victories in some of the bigger tobacco suits) that it's a very specialized skill set to bring and win class actions. I don't have time to check into this firm (have to get back to it cleaning up a mess here at Global Capitalism HQ from my European colleagues, how I spend a disproportionate number of my mornings) but it would be very telling if these guys were not class action experts. That would indicate that the cult is not exactly bringing its "A" game for the class action, indicating in turn that they fully expect it to be dismissed and thus making it just another cheap dilatory tactic

 

[eldritch cuckoo]

Re: Narconon files class action suit against National Association of Forensic Counsel

*snickersnort*
Well then, good luck.
Er... NOT.