The last time we reported on the 19 lawsuits filed against Scientology’s drug rehab network Narconon by Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton, we told you that Hamilton had
won a decisive victory in the
Geanacopulos lawsuit when Judge James C. Mahan denied the motion to dismiss filed by Narconon International and the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE).
We called it an across-the-board victory as Judge Mahan knocked down each of the arguments made by International and ABLE, and we may have been more right than we realized.
We just learned that Narconon’s attorneys have asked that its motions to dismiss in several of the Hamilton lawsuits be withdrawn. There’s no explanation given, and in each of the lawsuits —
McClure,
Tino,
Winchell, and
Yates — it’s the law firm of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, representing Rainbow Canyon Retreat — the Narconon Fresh Start facility in Caliente, Nevada — which has asked for the withdrawals. (The Geanocopoulis lawsuit also involves the Nevada rehab center.)
But it’s another filing by the Lewis Brisbois law firm that really caught our attention. This one involves the Tarr lawsuit, also filed against Rainbow Canyon Retreat in Nevada, and it’s pretty unusual. The attorneys of Lewis Brisbois are asking for emergency relief because they got screwed over by the attorneys for Narconon International and ABLE.
It turns out that International and ABLE settled with Hamilton’s plaintiffs and got out of the lawsuit without telling Rainbow Canyon Retreat or its attorneys, Lewis Brisbois. And that’s put Lewis Brisbois in a bad position as it apparently puts them over a deadline to submit a list of expert witnesses.
In other words, there’s some chaos going on in Scientology’s defense of its Nevada lawsuits, and one set of attorneys didn’t have the decency to inform another set of attorneys that Narconon International and ABLE had cut a check to get out of one battle. Meanwhile, four other motions to dismiss have been withdrawn without explanation. What’s going on?
