A Pinellas County jury is deciding how much an attorney should have to pay the
Church of Scientology in damages for an improper legal maneuver the church
claims led to a wave of bad publicity.
In closing arguments in the civil trial Tuesday, Church of Scientology attorney
Samuel Rosen told jurors that Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar launched "a frontal
attack on an entire religion" as opposing counsel in a wrongful death
lawsuit against the church.
Rosen implored jurors to award heavy punitive damages against Dandar, who for
six years has waged a legal battle that has caused nightmares for the church.
The battle stems from the wrongful death lawsuit Dandar filed on behalf of the
estate of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died in 1995 after 17 days of
care at the church's spiritual headquarters in downtown Clearwater. The case
now before the jury is an outgrowth of that lawsuit.
Church officials sued Dandar when, more than two years into the wrongful death
case, he sought to add as defendants several top church officials, including
the church's worldwide leader, David Miscavige.
The ensuing bad publicity was devastating to Scientology, church officials
said, and it violated a private agreement between the church and the McPherson
estate not to add additional defendants.
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird agreed that the private agreement
was breached. Now, the jury will decide how much Dandar and the estate owe the
church in damages.
Jurors began deliberations Wednesday morning.
Rosen argued that church critic Robert Minton paid Dandar $2,050,000 to
"hijack" the lawsuit and use it as a platform to attack the church.
Rosen stopped short of recommending a potential award, but said, "you
don't punish until that amount is more than $2,050,000."
Dandar and his attorney, Luke Lirot, contend that the breach of contract case
is nothing more than an attempt by the church to financially ruin Dandar and
the estate and prevent further pursuit of the wrongful death lawsuit.
In testimony Monday and Tuesday, Dandar insisted Minton's money did not
influence his decision to add Miscavige. The addition was not a deliberate
attempt to hurt the church, he said.
No trial date has been set for the wrongful death case.