New Braunfels, Texas — A large team of lawyers descended Thursday on this small town at the edge of Texas Hill Country, part of a lawsuit that contends Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige personally led a harassment campaign against the wife of former church executive.
Legal strategies on both sides quickly became clear.
Lawyers for the church told Comal County judge Dib Waldrip that Miscavige was not involved in any actions against Monique Rathbun, 41, who is married to former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun, now a chief whistle-blower against the church.
Monique Rathbun's attorney, Ray Jeffrey, said he would present evidence that Miscavige was behind a long-term effort that has shattered his client's life.
He said church representatives have intimidated, followed, videotaped, photographed, insulted and conducted constant surveillance on Monique Rathbun. Things recently came to a head, he said, after the Rathbuns moved to a remote, wooded home north of San Antonio to escape the harassment, only to notice surveillance cameras hidden on the undeveloped property next door.
The two-day hearing before Waldrip seeks to determine whether a temporary injunction against Miscavige should be made permanent. In addition to Miscavige, the defendants include two Scientology entities, three private investigators who allegedly surveilled the Rathbuns and another church operative.
At one juncture during the hearing, 13 lawyers huddled around the defense table to confer, some of them from the East Coast, some from the West Coast and a small local contingent.
San Antonio lawyer Lamont A. Jefferson, representing Miscavige and the church entity he heads, said the leader's attention is solely on Scientology's ecclesiastical matters. He argued that Rathbun once said as much in a sworn declaration several years ago, when he still worked for the church.
He said the plaintiff's goal was to get Miscavige to answer questions in a deposition, and that such an action would run afoul of religious freedom protections in the First Amendment. Those protections prevent civil courts from intruding into church governance, he said.
Lamont also argued that Monique Rathbun was free to proceed with her lawsuit with the Church of Scientology International as a defendant, not Miscavige individually.
"They have sufficient assets to address any damages she claims she has suffered as a result of this supposed investigation," Lamont said, referring to the church entity.
He said a "cabal" of church critics had formed around Marty Rathbun, including many who had taken legal action against the church, and that Rathbun's blog is filled with "acidic, hate-filled criticism of the Church of Scientology."
Rathbun, he said, had violated church trademarks by delivering Scientology counseling outside the church.
Alluding to the harassment alleged by Monique Rathbun, Lamont said Scientology has a right to protect its orthodoxy, and everything the church did to confront the Rathbuns was legal.
Monique Rathbun says she has never been a Scientologist, never attacked or spoken out against the church and her only involvement is being married to Marty Rathbun. Her lawsuit seeks damages of $1 million and an end to harassment by church representatives.