Since at least August, the Church of Scientology has been sending letters attacking Leah Remini to executives at the A&E network and its parent, ABC, in an attempt to head off her upcoming A&E series that premieres on November 29, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
On Saturday, we published one of those letters, a 7-page salvo from Church of Scientology International spokeswoman Karin Pouw addressed to the series executive producer, Alex Weresow, and A+E Networks CEO Nancy Dubuc. The letter, dated September 9, referred to Remini as a “has-been actress” and “spoiled entitled diva” who is harassing Scientology leader David Miscavige and stalking his wife, Shelly.
Now, the Underground Bunker has obtained four more letters. Two are from Leah Remini’s attorney, Douglas E. Mirell. The other two are replies from Scientology attorney Gary S. Soter.
In the exchange, Mirell calls Pouw’s many letters to A&E libelous and defamatory, accusing the church of maliciously trying to harm Remini’s reputation and interfere with her contract with A&E. Mirell demands that Scientology retract the letters and pay Remini $1.5 million as compensation. Soter, in his two replies, said the church would pay nothing and it stood by what it said about Remini.
Now, there’s only a week before the series premiere, and our sources tell us Scientology is still trying to convince A&E and ABC executives to pull the show — even after promotional spots are already running.
It’s not unusual for Scientology to paper a network with threatening letters leading right up to the day a program airs. HBO experienced the same treatment last year before it aired Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear in March, for example. But it is unusual for the target of that campaign to fire back at Scientology, and even to ask for compensation.
But Remini has already showed she’s willing to take a more aggressive approach. In a promotional spot that began airing over the weekend, she challenged Scientology to “stop fucking with people’s lives and families.”
The first letter we have today, from Remini’s attorney, Douglas Mirell, is dated October 26. He addresses it to Karin Pouw, and complains that Pouw has been sending letters on behalf of the church that “falsely and maliciously defame Ms. Remini.”
In particular, Mirell says that Pouw is purposely mischaracterizing Remini’s 2013 filing of a missing person report with the LAPD in regards to David Miscavige’s wife Shelly, who has not been seen at Scientology events for years. In the summer of 2005, Shelly, who had been a top Scientology executive in her own right, vanished from the organization’s secretive international headquarters, a 500-acre compound near Hemet, California. She has been seen in public only one time since, at the funeral of her father in the summer of 2007.
We broke the news on August 8, 2013 that Leah had filed the missing person report with the LAPD. But later that day, the police department told other news organizations that the report was “unfounded.” The LAPD had made contact with Shelly, who didn’t want to make a public statement. (Leah had actually filed the report several days earlier, on that Monday, giving the LAPD plenty of time to check on Shelly before announcing Thursday afternoon that the case was closed.) Pouw accused Remini of knowingly filing a false report for publicity’s sake. Mirell calls that a malicious lie, saying that Leah filed the report because she genuinely cared about the welfare of her longtime friend. (Meanwhile, the church still hasn’t produced Shelly or said publicly where she’s being held. We think we have a pretty good idea where she is, however.)
“Not only did Ms. Remini not know of Ms. Miscavige’s whereabouts (or even whether she was still alive) when she filed her missing person report,” Mirell writes, “but the Church of Scientology’s own all-encompassing veil of secrecy renders it literally impossible for Ms. Remini (or for anyone else outside a tight-knit circle of Scientology senior leaders) to know ‘the truth’ about Ms. Miscavige’s location or condition.”
Mirell adds that not only was Pouw maliciously attacking Remini for merely trying to check on her friend’s welfare, but also that Pouw’s letters were targeted in such a way as to produce maximum damage for Remini with the producers and network executives who are taking a chance on her series. And for that reason, Remini wants more than simply for the church to stop attacking her.
In addition, Ms. Remini hereby further demands that the Church of Scientology forthwith pay her Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) as at least partial compensation for the past, present and ongoing reputational, emotional and economic injuries and damages she has suffered, and continues to suffer, as a result of this malicious conduct. Given the many millions of dollars that Ms. Remini has personally donated and otherwise contributed to the Church of Scientology over the course of many decades, this monetary demand is exceedingly modest.
On November 4, Mirell sent out a second letter to Pouw at the same time that Scientology attorney Gary Soter responded to his first one.
Soter called Remini’s demands “ludicrous” and said the church would be ignoring them.
As she stated in her own words in her book, the filing [of the missing person report] was a component of the publicity she sought when leaving the Church and was a step in the orchestrated rollout of her break with Scientology, fully coordinated with other anti-Scientologists, including Mike Rinder, Tony Ortega and Marc and Claire Headley. This rollout was intended to generate maximum publicity for Ms. Remini’s failed career and to cause maximum harassment to the Church and its ecclesiastical leader.
Soter also took a shot at the series itself, calling it, “…what will no doubt be another failed program by a failed ‘celebrity’ seeking to make a buck off of her former religion.”
Meanwhile, Mirell’s second letter complains that Pouw had sent even more caustic letters about Remini than Mirell was originally aware of. One of them was the 7-page September 9 letter that we published on Saturday. In it, Pouw blamed Remini for the actions of a woman in Austin who had driven a car into a Scientology storefront, a man who had taken a hammer to a Scientology org in Los Angeles, and a St. Louis man who had called in threats to David Miscavige.
Mirell complains that not only did Remini not know these people or have any connection to them, but that “these vile insinuations” had “severely traumatized” Remini.
And so, Mirell says that Remini is upping the ante.
“Ms. Remini now hereby further demands that the CoS forthwith pay her an additional One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) as at least partial compensation for the past, present and ongoing reputational, emotional and economic injuries and damages she was suffered,” he writes.
In response, on November 7, Soter wrote back reiterating that Scientology planned to pay nothing.
“Moreover, since we do not wish to waste resources further on this attempt at attention getting, this will be the last correspondence on the subject,” Soter wrote.
But you can bet that cannon fire between the two sides is going to continue up to the last minute next week when the series is scheduled to premiere.
Here now are the full contents of all four letters, in both text and PDF form. Let us know what you think about Leah going on offense rather than just ignoring what the church is dishing out. We’re very curious to find out what our longtime Scientology watchers think of her aggressive stance.
Letter #1, from Leah Remini’s attorney Douglas Mirell to Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw…
Douglas E. Mirell, Attorney At Law
132 S. Rodeo Drive, Fourth Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2413
424.203.1600 www.HMAFIRM.com
DIRECT: 424.203.1603 FAX: 424.203.1671
EMAIL: DMIRELL@HMAFIRM.COM
October 26, 2016
VIA Email (mediarelations@churchofscientology.net) and U.S. mail
Ms. Karin Pouw
Church of Scientology International
6331 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90028-6329
Re: Leah Remini
Dear Ms. Pouw:
This law firm is litigation counsel to Leah Remini.
We write in connection with a series of letters you sent to ABC News and to Slauson Productions in which you, and through you the Church of Scientology International (“CoS”), falsely and maliciously defame Ms. Remini, intentionally inflict emotional distress, interfere with her contractual relations and prospective economic advantage, and seek to induce a breach of contract.
In your October 26, 2015, letter to John Bentley at ABC News (the “10/26/15 Letter”), you erroneously claim that Ms. Remini engaged in an “effort to harass the Church leader and his wife that culminated in her dishonest ‘missing person’ report filed in 2013 with the Los Angeles Police Department.” You further falsely assert: “When a person makes disingenuous reports to law enforcement, they simply cannot be trusted.” See 10/26/15 Letter, p.1 (emphasis added). Your letter also inexplicably accuses Ms. Remini of “stalking Mrs. Miscavige.” Id. at 6. Still later in that same letter, you make a number of additional maliciously false and inflammatory statements, all of which are premised upon the erroneous assertion that Ms. Remini did not have ample good cause to file her missing person report at the time she did so: “[D]espite knowing the truth, Ms. Remini filed a false missing person’s report, which required the Los Angeles Police Department to waste precious resources on a wild goose chase, while Ms. Remini’s friends leaked the story to the media to smear the Church. Within hours of that media leak, the police declared her claim ‘unfounded’ and closed the case. It has been two years since Ms. Remini’s harassment blew up in her face, yet she still perpetuates this falsehood. Ms. Remini should have been embarrassed and ashamed for filing the report and diverting public resources that were better used to protect the City of Los Angeles. Instead, she won’t let go.” Id. at p. 9 (emphasis added).
Your October 27, 2015, letter to Mr. Bentley (the “10/27/15 Letter”), falsely asserts that Ms. Remini “was never a friend of Mrs. Miscavige,” and then repeats the libelous claim that Ms. Remini submitted a “false missing person complaint to the Los Angeles Police Department…[that was] thoroughly debunked within hours of becoming public, with a public statement released by the police calling Ms. Remini’s claims ‘unfounded.'” You also falsely and baselessly claim that “Ms. Remini continues to invent new reasons to harass Mr. Miscavige and his wife. Truly it is compulsive and obsessive.” See 10/27/15 Letter, p. 4 (emphasis added).
Your August 10, 2016, letter to Alex Weresow of Slauson Productions (the “8/10/16 Letter”) repeats and embellishes upon the same calumny: “[Y]ou cannot be serious in claiming that Leah Remini’s fraudulent report to the Los Angeles Police Department was anything other than a publicity stunt.” You also falsely and maliciously claim that Ms. Remini’s investigation request was an attempt “to misuse law enforcement resources for her harassment” and that it was a dishonest report.” See 8/10/16 Letter, p. 1 (emphasis added).
Finally, in your August 24, 2016, letter to Mr. Weresow (the “8/24/16 Letter”), you disingenuously assert that when the CoS “has been compelled by the magnitude of her lies to respond, our statements have been measured and fully documented” See 8/24/16 Letter, p. 3 (emphasis added).
In the context of addressing Ms. Remini’s missing person report concerning [Michele] (Shelly) Miscavige, all of the above characterizations are egregiously untrue. As I am sure you are aware, Ms. Remini and Ms. Miscavige were long-time friends whose acquaintanceship well predated Ms. Remini’s resignation from the CoS, that Ms. Remini had not seen Ms. Miscavige for a significant period of time, and that Ms. Miscavige had not been seen by anyone else at any public CoS functions or at any other public events for a similarly lengthy period of tie. Accordingly, Ms. Remini was at all times acting in the utmost good faith when she filed her missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”).
Your various assertions that this missing person report was in any way “dishonest,” “false,” “fraudulent,” “a publicity stunt,” or intended to “smear the Church,” are as baseless and false as they are insulting and malicious. It is equally fatuous for you to assert that this missing person report was filed at a time when Ms. Remini “[knew] the truth” — the clear, and clearly defamatory, implication being that she had actual knowledge of Mrs. Miscavige’s whereabouts at the time this report was filed.
Not only did Ms. Remini not know of Ms. Miscavige’s whereabouts (or even whether she was still alive) when she filed her missing person report, but the CoS’s own all-encompassing veil of secrecy renders it literally impossible for Ms. Remini (or for anyone else outside a tight-knit circle of CoS senior leaders) to know “the truth” about Ms. Miscavige’s location or condition. Given these facts, it is therefore literally impossible — and highly defamatory — for you and the CoS to characterize Ms. Remini’s report as “dishonest,” “false,” or “fraudulent.” Under these circumstances, and since a missing person report merely constitutes a request to commence an inquiry, it is grossly inaccurate and wholly improper to claim that the filing of any such report is “dishonest,” “false,” or “fraudulent.” The LAPD’s subsequent determination that Ms. Remini’s report was “unfounded” is simply its short-hand way of stating that Ms. Miscavige had been located and is not, therefore, “missing.” The LAPD’s use of the word “unfounded” in no way undermines the true and bona fide rationale for Ms. Remini having filed her missing person report in the first place. Whenever anyone files a missing person report and the individual who is the subject of that report is subsequently found, the report is deemed “unfounded” — without any reference whatsoever to the motive or mindset of the individual filing that report. It is therefore grossly inappropriate, misleading and highly defamatory for you and the CoS to have attempted to bootstrap the LAPD’s ultimate “unfounded” finding into a wildly distorted claim that the filing of the report was “dishonest,” “false,” or “fraudulent” when made.
Equally reprehensible and malicious is the baseless assertion that Ms. Remini’s filing of this missing person report was “a publicity stunt” or that it was intended to “smear the Church.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Likewise, contrary to your unsupported claim that Ms. Remini was “never a friend of Mrs. Miscavige,” the truth is that the two were long-time friends; over the course of many years, Ms. Remini and Ms. Miscavige frequently spoke and exchanged correspondence. Indeed, Ms. Remini cared — and today still cares — only for Ms. Miscavige’s health, safety and security. Assuming that the LAPD in fact found and spoke directly with Ms. Miscavige herself — an assumption thus far unconfirmed by any official verbal or written statements to this effect provided to Ms. Remini by the LAPD — that would be the end of the matter.
Finally, of course, your baseless and libelous claims that Ms. Remini either intended to “harass” or “stalk” either Mr. or Ms. Miscavige — or that Ms. Remini actually did so — are purely figments of a fevered imagination. Likewise maliciously defamatory is your assertion that Ms. Remini has acted in a “compulsive” or “obsessive” manner.
Among the many jurisdictions in which litigation against the CoS would be timely and appropriate, California recognizes that public figures such as Ms. Remini are entitled to sue for defamation arising from both directly defamatory statements, as well as those that arise from defamatory implications. See, e.g., Kaelin v. Globe Communications Corp., 162 F.3d 1036, 1010 (9th Cir. 1998); see also Thomas v. Los Angeles Times Communications, 189 F.Supp.2d 1005 (C.D.Cal. 2002); MacLeod v. Tribune Publishing Co., Inc., 52 Cal.2d 536 (1959). In this case, your correspondence on behalf of the CoS contains both types of statements. Moreover, there is ample evidence that these statements were made with “actual malice” since, as a definitional matter, a mere request that law enforcement determine whether an individual is or isn’t “missing” cannot be “dishonest,” “false” or “fraudulent.” Likewise, since you have proffered no evidence whatsoever that Ms. Remini “knew” that Ms. Miscavige was not “missing” at the time she submitted her report to the LAPD, the contrary assertion in your correspondence is either knowingly false or made with reckless disregard for its truth. See, e.d., New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 279-280 (1964); Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 342 (1974).
These outrageous lies and misstatements, all of which were clearly directed at Ms. Remini, also give rise to claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as for simple negligence. See generally Christensen v. Superior Court, 54 Cal.3d 868, 902-903 (1991); B.E. Witkin, Summary of California Law, Torts § 871 (10th ed. 2005).
Likewise, given the identities of the parties to whom you transmitted your letters (and your understanding of their relationship to Ms. Remini), the false and defamatory statements contained therein also constitute inducements to breach contracts with Ms. Remini, intentional interference with Ms. Remini’s contractual relations, as well as the intentional and negligent interference with her prospective economic advantage. See generally Dryden v. Tri-Valley Growers, 65 Cal.App.3d 990, 995 (1977) (inducing breach of contract); Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Bear Stearns & Co., 50 Cal.3d 1118, 1126 (1990) (intentional interference with contractual relations); Della Penna v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., 11 Cal.4th 376, 393-393 (1995) (interference with “prospective contractual or economic relations”); and North American Chemical Co. v. Superior Court, 59 Cal.App.4th 764, 786 (1997) (negligent interference with prospective economic advantage).
Accordingly, demand is hereby made that you immediately retract and correct all of the false, misleading, defamatory and otherwise tortiuos statements that you have made about Ms. Remini’s missing person report to the LAPD concerning Ms. Miscavige in: (1) a letter to Mr. Bentley at ABC News; (2) a letter to Mr. Weresow at Slauson Productions; (3) a statement to be posted prominently and conspicuously on all CoS websites and related Internet pages; and (4) a press release sent to all print and electronic media outlets that ever published any or all of the substantive allegations contained in your above-referenced correspondence to Messrs. Bentley and/or Weresow. Please copy the undersigned on all of these retractions and corrections.
In addition, Ms. Remini hereby further demands that the CoS forthwith pay her Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) as at least partial compensation for the past, present and ongoing reputational, emotional and economic injuries and damages she has suffered, and continues to suffer, as a result of this malicious conduct. Given the many millions of dollars that Ms. Remini has personally donated and otherwise contributed to the CoS over the course of many decades, this monetary demand is exceedingly modest.
I await your prompt and comprehensive response.
This letter is not intended, and should not be construed, as a complete expression of Ms. Remini’s factual or legal positions with respect to the matters addressed herein. Nothing contained in or omitted from his letter — including, without limitation, any and all other false, defamatory or otherwise tortious statements about Ms. Remini that you and/or CoS have ever disseminated — is intended, and should not be construed, as a waiver, relinquishment or other limitation upon any of Ms. Remini’s rights and/or remedies, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas E. Mirell of
Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP
cc: Ms. Leah Remini
Letter #2, from Scientology attorney Gary Soter to Mirell….
Law Offices of
Gary S. Soter
A Professional Corporation
22287 Mulholland Highway #169
Calabasas, California 91302
(323) 960-1909
FAX (818) 530-4352
EMAIL: GARYSOTER@GARYSOTERLAW.COM
November 4, 2016
Dougas E. Mirell, Esq.
Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP
132 S. Rodeo Drive
Fourth Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Email: dmirell@hmafirm.com
Re: Leah Remini
Dear Mr. Mirell:
Your October 26, 2016 letter to Ms. Pouw was referred to me.
Ms. Remini’s ludicrous demands for a retraction and for compensation are soundly rejected. The Church of Scientology stands by its statements regarding the false and harassing missing person report Ms. Remini filed with the LAPD.
The facts are clear that Ms. Remini knew the missing person report was false and unfounded at the time it was filed. As she stated in her own words in her book, the filing was a component of the publicity she sought when leaving the Church and was a step in the orchestrated rollout of her break with Scientology, fully coordinated with other anti-Scientologists, including Mike Rinder, Tony Ortega and Marc and Claire Headley. This rollout was intended to generate maximum publicity for Ms. Remini’s failed career and to cause maximum harassment to the Church and its ecclesiastical leader.
It is Ms. Remini and her cohorts who are harassing the Church and its leader. Clearly Ms. Remini’s demands are nothing more than a provocative ploy to generate publicity for what will no doubt be another failed program by a failed “celebrity” seeking to make a buck off of her former religion.
Let me repeat, Ms. Remini’s ludicrous demands are soundly rejected.
Please direct any further correspondence to my attention.
Very truly yours,
The Law Offices of Gary S. Soter
A Professional Corporation
Gary S. Soter
Letter #3, from Mirell to Karin Pouw….
Douglas E. Mirell, Attorney At Law
132 S. Rodeo Drive, Fourth Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2413
424.203.1600 www.HMAFIRM.com
DIRECT: 424.203.1603 FAX: 424.203.1671
EMAIL: DMIRELL@HMAFIRM.COM
November 4, 2016
VIA Email (mediarelations@churchofscientology.net) and U.S. mail
Ms. Karin Pouw
Church of Scientology International
6331 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90028-6329
Re: Leah Remini
Dear Ms. Pouw:
As you already know, this law firm is litigation counsel to Leah Remini. I write now to follow up on the letter I sent to you on October 26, 2016, to which I have yet to receive any response.
Subsequent to my October 26th correspondence, I became aware of a 7-page letter with attachments that you sent to Alex Weresow of Slauson Productions, dated September 9, 2016, bearing a “Re” line that reads “Leah Remini” (hereinafter the “9/9 Remini Letter”). It has likewise been brought to my attention that you sent two additional letters to Mr. Weresow on the same date — a 12-page letter bearing a “Re” line that reads “‘Untitled Documentary Project’ and the Church of Scientology” and a 9-page letter with attachments bearing a “Re” line that reads “Mike Rinder.” I note that “cc” copies of all three letters were sent to “Ms. Nancy Dubuc, CEO A+E Networks” and to “Mr. Paul Buccieri, President, A&E and History.”
The unmistakable purpose, intent and desired effect of all three letters is to dissuade Ms. Remini, Slauson and A&E from exercising their First Amendment rights to comment upon and criticize the conduct of the Church of Scientology International (“CoS”) and its leaders. In so doing, not only have you continued to defame and inflict emotional distress upon Ms. Remini personally (and compounded those injuries by the publication of these statements to persons and entities beyond Mr. Weresow and Slauson), but you have now made even more abundantly clear that you are endeavoring at all costs to induce Slauson and/or A&E to breach any contracts they may have with Ms. Remini, to interfere with her contractual relations, and to interfere with her prospective economic advantage.
Because all three letters are largely repetitive insofar as they seek to disparage and defame Ms. Remini, I will confine my specific comments below to the outrageously false assertions, insinuations, innuendos and implications arising solely from the 9/9 Remini Letter.
First, you begin your letter by falsely characterizing Ms. Remini as an “anti-Scientologist.” As you well know, Ms. Remini and her family spent many decades of their lives and many millions of dollars as faithful and supportive members of the CoS. Ms. Remini personally received numerous recognitions and commendations not only from David Miscavige himself, but also from Tom Cruise and other prominent CoS adherents. Since her resignation from the Church, Ms. Remini’s only goal has been to share the truths about Scientology she has come to learn and understand — truths borne out by her own very personal experiences and those of other former CoS adherents, many of whom held positions of authority and prominence within the Church hierarchy. The fact that these truths are often stunning and shocking does not render Ms. Remini an “anti-Scientologist.” Her sole desire is to shed light upon and counteract the Church’s tactics of bullying and intimidation that for too long have deterred and prevented journalists and others from telling the truth about the CoS and its actual practices. In so doing, Ms. Remini fervently hopes that other Scientologists will now feel free to honestly relate their own experiences of mistreatment and abuse so that no one else will ever have to suffer that same fate.
Second, I do not intend to dignify with a response any of the snide, snarky, spiteful and opinionated characterizations of Ms. Remini’s career or character, such as those found in the second through fourth paragraphs and elsewhere throughout your 9/9 Remini Letter. Neither do I intend to address in this letter the claims you make about the alleged conduct of any other former Scientologists — such as Ron Miscavige, Mike Rinder and Tom DeVocht. I will leave those tasks to other persons, other times, and other forums.
Third, the fifth paragraph of your 9/9 Remini Letter — which purports to discuss the circumstances of Ms. Remini’s departure from the CoS — is internally inconsistent, disingenuous and flatly false. On the other hand, you claim that Ms. Remini “was expelled,” while simultaneously asserting that “she was on the verge of being kicked out.” Neither is true. As already noted in my October 26th letter (to which you have yet to reply), Ms. Remini voluntarily resigned from the Church.
Fourth, the sixth and seventh paragraphs of your 9/9 Remini Letter simply regurgitate your prior wholly alse, utterly misleading and defamatory characterizations of the circumstances surrounding the filing of Ms. Remini’s missing person report concerning [Michele] (Shelly) Miscavige — the subject I addressed at length in my October 26th letter. I refer you back to that correspondence for a comprehensive response and refutation of those scandalous characterizations.
Fifth, the new claims and insinuations you make on pages 3 and 4 of your 9/9 Remini Letter are utterly outrageous and despicable. By attempting to blame Ms. Remini for an array of criminal acts with which she had no connection whatsoever (reckless driving, hate crimes and death threats), the Church of Scientology has reached a new low. These are classically desperate tropes that resemble nothing less than Joseph McCarthy-esque attempts to engage in guilty by association. For the record: (A) Ms. Remini did not know and had no communications whatsoever with Erin McMurtry at any time up to and including the time of the alleged December 2015 incident you describe; (B) Ms. Remini did not know and had no communications whatsoever with Brandon Reisdorf at any time up to and including the time of the alleged conduct you describe; and (C) Ms. Remini did not know and had no communications whatsoever with Andre Barkanov at any time up to and including the time of the alleged July 2015 incidents you describe. The only possible purpose for mentioning these matters in your 9/9 Remini Letter is to seek to dissuade Slauson and/or A&E from proceeding with the production and airing of the documentary project you know them to be contemplating. Since there is absolutely no reason to believe that Ms. Remini had anything whatsoever to do with any of these alleged crimes or the persons who purportedly perpetrated them, their recitation in this context is an exercise in egregiously tortious conduct intended to induce a contractual breach and/or to interfere with Ms. Remini’s contractual relations and her prospective economic advantage. In addition, of course, these vile insinuations have severely traumatized Ms. Remini and give rise to substantial liabilitiy for intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as for negligence. In these regards, I refer you back to my October 26th correspondence for a sampling of the legal authorities supporting each of these claims.
Accordingly, demand is hereby made that you immediately retract and correct all of the false, misleading, defamatory and otherwise tortious statements, insinuations, innuendos and implications arising from the 9/9 Remini Letter in (1) a letter to Mr. Weresow; (2) a letter to Ms. Dubuc and Mr. Buccieri; (3) a statement to be posted prominently and conspicuously on all CoS websites and related Internet pages; and (4) a press release sent to all print and electronic media outlets that ever published any or all of the substantive allegations contained in the 9/9 Remini Letter. Please copy the undersigned on all of these retraction and correction communications.
In addition, Ms. Remini now hereby further demands that the CoS forthwith pay her an additional One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) as at least partial compensation for the past, present and ongoing reputational, emotional and economic injuries and damages she was suffered, and continues to suffer, as a result of this latest example of the Church’s malicious conduct. Given the many millions of dollars that Ms. Remini has personally donated and otherwise contributed to the CoS over the course of many decades, this further monetary demand is exceedingly modest.
I await your prompt and comprehensive response to both this letter and my correspondence of October 26, 2016.
This letter is not intended, and should not be construed, as a complete expression of Ms. Remini’s factual or legal positions with respect to the matters addressed herein. Nothing contained in or omitted from this letter — including, without limitation, any and all other false, defamatory or otherwise tortious statements about Ms. Remini that you and/or CoS have ever disseminated — is intended, and should not be construed, as a waiver, relinquishment or other limitation upon any of Ms. Remini’s rights and/or remedies, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas E. Mirell of
Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP
cc: Ms. Leah Remini
Letter #4, from Soter to Mirell…
Law Offices of
Gary S. Soter
A Professional Corporation
22287 Mulholland Highway #169
Calabasas, California 91302
(323) 960-1909
FAX (818) 530-4352
EMAIL: GARYSOTER@GARYSOTERLAW.COM
November 7, 2016
Dougas E. Mirell, Esq.
Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP
132 S. Rodeo Drive
Fourth Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Email: dmirell@hmafirm.com
Re: Leah Remini
Dear Mr. Mirell:
While you are certainly entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts. If the goal of your letter was to interfere with the constitutional rights of the Church to express its views of your client and the facts surrounding her thirsty demand for attention, surely you know that the letter could not possibly succeed. Your attempt to rewrite history, or spin the reality of who your client is and what conduct she has engaged in will take the work of a magician, not merely a lawyer.
So that it’s clear, our client will persist in ensuring that all those interested will hear the truth about Ms. Remini and her attempts to harm the Church, and if exposing the truth harms her attempts at profiteering and reviving her professional career, so be it. So that you and she are not left to wonder, the Church will freely exercise its constitutional rights and will not be deterred by threatening, baseless letters such as yours, or the histrionics of your client and her confederates. Moreover, since we do not wish to waste resources further on this attempt at attention getting, this will be the last correspondence on the subject. Further such communications from you, or whichever lawyer Ms. Remini next seeks to enlist in her fruitless cause will be responded to simply by reference to this correspondence (hereinafter, “The Letter”). All rights are reserved.
Very truly yours,
The Law Offices of Gary S. Soter
A Professional Corporation
Gary S. Soter
Here are the original letters…
Leah Remini Demand for $500,000 from Scientology by Tony Ortega on Scribd
Scientology rejects Leah Remini's $500K demand by Tony Ortega on Scribd
Leah Remini Demand for another $1 million from Scientology by Tony Ortega on Scribd
Scientology rejects Leah Remini's $1.5 million demand by Tony Ortega on Scribd
——————–
Vivian Kubrick shuts down her fund for Shelley Duvall
After raising more than $23,000 in just four days with a GoFundMe appeal, Scientologist Vivian Kubrick, daughter of the late film director Stanley Kubrick, shut down her fundraising effort, which she had started with the goal of raising $100,000 to help actress Shelley Duvall with her mental health problems.
Duvall had been featured on an episode of Dr. Phil which showed her struggling with severe delusions. Dr. Phil McGraw was criticized for putting Duvall on screen in such a condition, but he said he was seeking treatment for her. One of his critics was Vivian Kubrick, who then started up her fund as a way to protest McGraw’s show.
As a Scientologist, however, Vivian opposes psychiatry and the kind of care that Duvall so obviously needs. Kubrick was deleting messages to the GoFundMe page that raised this issue of a Scientologist raising money for mental health care, but then she announced that she had to shut down the fund entirely once she actually talked with Shelley Duvall’s mother…
MY APOLOGIES TO EVERYONE THAT DONATED but I just got off the phone with Shelley Duvall’s mother Bobbie, she explained that after her discussions with SAG-AFTRA and the fact Shelley is on government benefits, they can’t afford to accept any large donations. Understandably, they have to consider Shelly’s long term financial support. And a large amount of money, even if it was put in Trust, would effect Shelley’s Government benifits and the benifits that are available to her from SAG-AFTRA. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but if you made a donation, please contact GoFundMe to receive a refund of your generous and kind donation
It was journalist Mark Ebner who first alerted us to Vivian’s fundraising effort. We asked him his thoughts on this new development.
Mark Ebner: I can’t make sense out of donations being compromised by her SAG/AFTRA plan. I also think the donations stalled after we questioned Vivian’s motives, and called out the media.
The Bunker: It did seem to slow down, yes. So apparently she started up the fund without contacting Shelley or her family?
Ebner: Sure seems that way. Wonder how she’ll handle the refunds.
The Bunker: Hey suckers, you just gave your money to a Scientologist. And now you want a refund. Guess what happens to people who want their money back from Scientology?
Actually, we trust GoFundMe will honor the refunds requests. But if you donated and you’re having trouble getting your money back, please let us know.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on November 22, 2016 at 07:00
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