How a Portland jury got a crash course in one of the oddest "religions" ever created and awarded the plaintiff more than $2. million Note: This summer, a jury in Portland spent a month listening to testimony in a $4 million lawsuit over the practices of the Church of Scientology there. The plaintiff: Julie Christofferson, a young Portland woman who was a follower of Scientology in 1975 and 1976. The defendants: three local Scientology organizations and one of their leaders. ''Richard ...

EDMONTON (CP) — The Church of Scientology lodged a formal complaint Friday with the provincial attorney-general against the RCMP, which it accused of spreading false and misleading information about the church to files of Alberta government agencies. In a letter delivered to the office of Attorney-General Neil Crawford, the church asked for an investigation to stop the RCMP from interfering with the process of government. The letter, signed by Rev. Raymond Rockl, national director of public affairs, said the church "has ...

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Friday that the U.S. government had "illegally and unconstitutionally" seized documents during a raid on the Church of Scientology here in 1977. U.S. Dist. Judge William J. Bryant ordered the government to return all of the documents seized by 25 FBI agents during their search on July 8, 1977. Asst. U.S. Atty. Raymond Banoun said that the government would appeal Bryant's ruling and that it would have no effect on an up-coming criminal trial of ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (UPI) — A 22-year-old woman whose attorney claimed she "lived through an Orwellian horror story" as a Church of Scientology member was awarded more than $2 million in court Wednesday. Julie Christopherson Titchbourne charged in her suit that the church engaged in unlawful trade practices, fraud and outrageous conduct, damaging her psychologically. A jury of seven women and five men deliberated 18 hours before awarding her $3,000 as compensation for the cost of Scientology courses she took and $150,000 ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — (AP) — A jury awarded more than $2 million in damages Wednesday to a 22-year-old woman who claimed the Church of Scientology defrauded her by failing to fulfill promises of improving her life. The jury deliberated 18 hours over two days before reaching its unanimous decision. In her suit, Julie C. Titchbourne, 21, of Portland, alleged she suffered emotional distress as a result of her experience with the church in 1975-76. She had sought $2 million in punitive ...

Church failed to fulfill promises of improving life, she claimed; also said she suffered emotional distress PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury awarded more than $2 million in damages Wednesday to a 22-year-old woman who claimed the Church of Scientology defrauded her by failing to fulfil promises of improving her life. The jury deliberated 18 hours over two days before reaching its unanimous decision. In her suit, Julie C. Titchbourne, 21, of Portland, alleged she suffered emotional distress as a result ...

RIVERSIDE — A Superior Court judge here upheld a search warrant Tuesday used by authorities to raid the local mission of the Church of Scientology in search of evidence of possible bank loan fraud. But at the same time, Judge Ronald Deissler delayed action on a church motion that the 17 boxes of Scientology records seized during the June 13 raid be returned. A hearing on that matter has been set for Aug. 20. More than two dozen Riverside County sheriff's ...

Toronto ON — Narconon, a Toronto drug rehabilitation centre that uses the controversial techniques of the Church of Scientology, is seeking a provincial grant of $256,000. David Kerr, the Narconon board chairman, has asked for a meeting with Health Minister Dennis Timbrell to discuss how the money could be obtained through various Government departments. The centre, run by volunteers out of a three-story house on Spadina Avenue, has struggled for the past seven years without Government help to provide addicts with ...

Scientology courses are designed to make students dependent on their instructors so it is "easier to brainwash them," a disaffected Church of Scientology communications supervisor testified Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. One particular "drill" called "bull baiting" involved verbal and physical abuse and sometimes overt sexual contact, Diana Morgan testified. She appeared as a witness for Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 21, in the trial of a $2 million-plus damage suit Mrs. Titchbourne brought against three Scientology organizations and adherents. She is ...

Riverside Mission is Searched for Evidence of False Loan Scheme Sheriff's deputies seized 17 boxes of documents from the Riverside mission of the Church of Scientology Wednesday in a search for evidence that possibly as many as 100 past and current members fraudulently obtained bank loans and then gave the money to Scientology. More than two dozen Riverside County sheriff's deputies spent six hours searching through the offices of the mission for tax, payroll and other records on 20 named individuals ...

In the beginning there was Xenn, god of the Galactic Federation, a 76-planet union formed some 95 million years ago. The Federation, whose planets averaged 178 billion inhabitants each, had something of a population problem. Xenn solved it by "implanting" the excess to Teegeeack (earth) and dumping them into volcanos. These beings were somehow fused into humans when hydrogen bombs were dropped on the volcanos. After the radioactive dust cleared, the new humans were confused by being shown religious pictures of ...

The U.S. Justice Department, at least for the next month, cannot disseminate to the public or other governmental agencies documents seized by the FBI from the Church of Scientology July 8, 1977, the U.S. 9th Circuit Circuit of Appeals has ruled. The appellate court said materials seized from the Scientology headquarters here can be presented to federal grand juries, but to no one else pending appeal of the court's order. A hearing on the merits of the Scientology suit seeking to ...

[...] 1 The Church of Scientology of California (California Church), a California corporation, appeals from a judgment dismissing its action for libel. The suit is against the Pulitzer Publishing Co., publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, and James E. Adams and Elaine Viets, principal authors of the newspaper articles in question.1 The district court dismissed the action against appellees for lack of personal jurisdiction and ruled, alternatively, that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which ...

Like any other religion, Scientology has its trappings. Not crisp, rich-colored vestments. Not silver chalices, nor flasks of holy water. No, there are other things. Like personality tests and E-meters. E-meters? Scientologists rely heavily on counseling methods to cure psychosomatic ills and mental blocks. They believe in the powers of the "reactive mind" — a portion of the mind which records unpleasant experiences which may later be triggered by outside influences. TO CLEAR the mind of "engrams" (the unsavory experiences), Scientologists ...

Forgive the digression, but as a child, I had a fool-proof method for falling asleep. If I were lying wide-awake in bed, I would categorize my thoughts, imagining my mind was a room full of filing cabinets. Into each of these files (not unlike the ones where the Mouseketeers kept their cartoons) went one worry or problem. By the time the data was transferred, I would be asleep. The point being that I viewed my mind as something akin to a ...

U.S. Customs Service officials did not violate constitutional guarantees against prior restraint of speech when they detained and reviewed thousands of documents sent to Los Angeles by the Church of Scientology in England two years ago, a three-judge federal panel has ruled. The unanimous opinion written by U.S. Dist. Judge William P. Gray held that a federal statute prohibiting importation into the United States of written material advocating treason, forcible resistance to any federal law or threats to harm or kill ...