United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

“ In both fields of the tenets of one man may seem the rankest error to his neighbor. To persuade others to his own point of view, the pleader, as we know, at times, reports to exaggeration, to vilification of man who have been, or are, prominent in church or state, and even to false statement. ”

“ As noted, malice in the sense of hatred or ill-will is often indicative of lack of the actual malice required under New York Times, and therefore would tend to undermine, not support, plaintiff's case. In addition, "reckless conduct is not measured by whether a reasonably prudent man would have published, or would have investigated before publishing." St. Amant, 390 U.S. at 731. However, the combination of inadequate investigation with bias on the part of the publisher can give rise to an inference of actual malice. ”

“ The fact that Dondero did not believe Fishman's claims does not undermine Behar's belief because Dondero was at the time prosecuting Fishman, and that prosecution would be undermined by accepting Fishman's account of Scientology's involvement with Fishman. Cf. Harte-Hanks, 491 U.S. at 682 (denials coming from interested witnesses would not cause reporter to question veracity of allegations) . Therefore, the Court finds that no reasonable jury could find by clear and convincing evidence that Time published the above statement with actual malice. ”

“ Says Cynthia Kisser, the (Cult Awareness) network's Chicago-based executive director: 'Scientology is quite likely the most ruthless, the most classically terroristic, the most litigious and the most lucrative cult the country has ever seen. ”

“ But the people of this nation have ordained in the light of history, that, in spite of the probability of excesses and abuses, these liberties are, in the long view, essential to enlightened opinion and right conduct on the part of the citizens of a democracy. ”

“ Behar relied on Steven Fishman, Owe Goertz, Fishman's psychologist, Marc Nurik, Fishman's former counsel, Vicki Aznaran, a former Scientologist, and Robert Dondero, the assistant United States Attorney who prosecuted Fishman for stock fraud. Although Fishman in many respects is not highly credible, based on the corroboration of aspects of his claim by other sources, this Court finds that his claims are not obviously incredible. ”

“ Their so-called therapies are manipulations. They take the best and brightest people and destroy them.'
"It was too late. 'From Noah's friends at Dianetics' read the card that accompanied a bouquet of flowers at Lottick's funeral. Yet no Scientology staff members bothered to show up."
The primary sources relied on by Behar for these statements are the parents of Noah Lottick. The Lotticks affirmed the accuracy of each statement in the article. ”