Supreme Court of the United States

“ Recognizing that Respondents intended to bring a motion for summary judgment based on CSI's inability to establish actual malice (CSI admitted it was a public figure) , and acknowledging that that motion could bring the litigation to an end, the parties agreed to focus discovery initially on issues of actual malice and other matters that could be resolved without undertaking the necessarily expensive, time-consuming and (from CSI's perspective) sensitive discovery of church executives on truth and falsity. ”

“ Behar did not believe that Fishman's guilty plea undermined Dr. Geertz's testimony. (A321 n.47; A323-24) The death threat that had led to the obstruction of justice conviction had occurred earlier, in 1988, and involved a purported threat against Fishman's defense lawyer, Nurik, in the stock scam case. When interviewed, Nurik told Behar that it was his view that the clumsily contrived threat had been hatched "in conjunction" with Scientology to sabotage Fishman's defense in the stock scam case and that Fishman had purposely undermined his own defense to protect the church from involvement. ”

“ Time's extensive research, including judicial decisions, affidavits, previously published reports and interviews of sources whom Behar credited and whose accounts were both mutually supportive and wholly consistent with prior reported conduct on the part of Scientology, is precisely the opposite of the Harte-Hanks account. The purposeful avoidance contention is particularly weak coming from an organization that consistently refused to answer the questions of a reporter it now accuses of having purposefully avoided the truth. ”

“ As long as the organization's opponents and victims are successfully squelched, Scientology's managers and lawyers will keep pocketing millions of dollars by helping it achieve its ends." (Article 57) Even in the broadest passages quoted by CSI in its complaint, CSI did not challenge the highly critical passages that are italicized: • "In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner." ”

“ CSI reads Sullivan far too narrowly. Without the protection of the constitutional privilege, the burden and expense of defending a libel claim would create a powerful incentive for the press to engage in self-censorship, particularly when the claim is asserted by a litigant eager to harass a media defendant into self-censorship. As this Court has said: "Fear of large verdicts in damage suits for innocent or merely negligent misstatement, even fear of expense involved in their defense, must inevitably cause publishers to 'steer... ”

“ At his deposition, Stacks explained his view that " [a] reporter is not... disabled because he has, based on his investigation, formed some opinions. A contrary rule would lead to reporting only by the ignorant." (A218; see also, A2253-54; A2260) Behar reviewed many affidavits from litigations involving Scientology, a large number of court rulings discussing Scientology, and dozens of published books and articles describing Scientology's harassment and abuse of its members, critics and others. ”

“ As one example, Behar knew that Vicki Aznaran, former President of Scientology's Religious Technology Center ("RTC") , had sworn in an affidavit that Scientology routinely engaged in "burglaries, assaults, disruption of enemies' businesses, spying, harassive investigations, abuse of confidential communications in parishioner files and so on." ”

“ Suicide by Scientology adherents also was an omnipresent issue. Behar was familiar with reports of suicides of loyal Scientologists in the U.S. and abroad, including that of Noah Lottick, reported on in the Article.↑ CSI's emphasis on Dondero's response to Fishman's statement that Scientology had murdered three people (Pet 24) is based on portions of the transcript that Behar simply did not have. ”

“ No cult extracts more money from its members."' (Article 51) • "Those who criticize the church-journalists, doctors, lawyers and even judges-often find themselves engulfed in litigation, stalked by private eyes, framed for fictional crimes, beaten up or threatened with death." ”

“ Judge Kozinski recognized, as had the Second Circuit, that it is "quite unexceptional" to determine that statements that imply the "identical view" to those already found to have been made without actual malice, are nonactionable. Id. at 1565.
Finally, the most far-reaching of Petitioner's positions, the assertion that this Court should endorse a new libel cause of action for nominal damages wholly exempt from the fault requirements of Sullivan, is not properly presented here at all. ”

“ Aznaran's affidavit also stated that attacks on its enemies were part of Scientology "scripture" and that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had "encourage [d] Scientologists to pursue litigation purely for harassment without regard to the merits of a claim to cause enemies to fold" and had also written that " [t] he law can be used very easily to harass, and... will generally be sufficient to cause [the enemy's] professional decease. ”

“ Both men claim that when arrested, Fishman was ordered by the church to kill Geertz and then do an 'EOC,' or end of cycle, which is church jargon for suicide." (Article 55)
The district court noted that much of the Fishman passage was not of and concerning CSI. (App. B 29a) [8] The court accepted the possibility, however, that a reference to "the church" in a sentence concerning a claim by Fishman and Dr. Geertz could be understood to mean CSI. Id. Even if it were assumed that "church" here refers to the CSI. Behar plainly lacked actual malice in describing this incident. ”

“ The report of Noah Lottick's suicide was based on Behar's extensive interviews of Noah's parents and friends. The Scientology official Behar sought to interview would not speak with him. See App. A 12a-13a.↑ The "one source of funds" statement, which appears in a sidebar accompanying the Article, states that the Vancouver Stock Exchange ("VSE") , not CSI, is "notorious" and "often called the scam capital of the world." (Article 54) Other statements in the sidebar charge that individual Scientologists (not CSI) "take over companies, hype the stock [and] sell their shares." ”

“ He experienced the church's tactics as the Article was being prepared. As is reported in a sidebar accompanying the Article, entitled "The Scientologists and Me" (Article 57) , Behar was subjected to harassment, including surveillance by private investigators and illegal acquisition of his credit report; his neighbors and acquaintances were questioned about him; and private investigators contacted Behar posing as victims of Scientology in an effort to elicit negative statements. ”

“ CSI's complaint alleges a single claim for relief, states that "this is an action for damages" and seeks both compensatory damages to be determined at trial and punitive damages of "no less than $416,000,000." ”

“ Vicki Aznaran, a prominent Scientology defector, confirmed that Fishman had been a Scientology member around 1978 when she joined. (A324; A667) Aznaran's view was supported by Dr. Richard Ofshe, a sociologist who studied cult behavior and worked with the Fishman defense. (A324-25; A723-24) In Behar s mind, by contradicting the basic claim Scientology had made to prosecutor Dondero-that Fishman was a recent, neophyte member-these sources undermined Scientology's denials to Dondero. (A324-26; A706) [10]
Everything that Behar reported about the EOC and death threat was corroborated by Dr. ”