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Kendrick Moxon, SBN 128240 MOXON & KOBRIN 3055 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 900 Los Angeles, CA 90010 213-487-4468 213-487-5385(fax) Attorneys for Plaintiff CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL SUPERIOR COURT OF
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF MARIN
TO DEFENDANT GERALD ARMSTRONG AND HIS COUNSEL OF RECORD: PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT at 9:00 a.m., on August 27, 2007, before the Honorable M. Lynn Duryee, in Department L of this Court, located at the Marin County Superior Court, Hall of Justice, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael California 94903, plaintiff Church of Scientology International, will and hereby does move for reinstatement of the sentences of contempt issued against defendant Gerald Armstrong, and for the issuance of a warrant for his arrest. This motion is supported by the attached memorandum of points and authorities, the decision of the Court of Appeals addressing this matter, the complete files and // // |
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records in this action and any argument which may be presented at the
hearing thereon. Dated: July 26,2007
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MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND
AUTHORITIES
I - INTRODUCTION Gerald Armstrong has repeatedly been held in contempt of this Court's orders over the past 10 years. Warrants were issued for his arrest, but he fled the jurisdiction and thumbed his nose at the Court's rulings. In April 2004, this Court again found Armstrong in contempt for further violations of Court orders, however, discharged the warrants pending against him and ordered that the jail time imposed on the prior citations be deemed served. Armstrong took this as vindication and asserted he was thereafter free to flaunt the Court's orders, stated the Court was powerless to restrain him, and proceeded to act accordingly. Plaintiff thus appealed this Court's ruling, which was reversed in part by the Court of Appeals. Armstrong sought certiorari from the California Supreme Court, and that too was denied. While plaintiff hoped these rulings would result in Armstrong obeying the Court's orders, he continues to flaunt the law and brags that he need not and will not comply. As the only means available to attempt to acquire compliance, plaintiff accordingly moves for orders implementing the appellate mandate, reinstating the prior jail sentences and the issuance of a warrant for Mr. Armstrong's arrest. II - STATEMENT OF
FACTS
To end long and contentious litigation, Armstrong and the Church of
ScientologyInternational, (CSI) entered into a settlement agreement in 1986, pursuant to which Armstrong received $800,000, dismissed certain legal claims against the Church, and agreed, inter alia,, to forego public criticism of Scientology and its leadership and to avoid voluntarily participating in litigation against Scientology churches. The agreement| provided for liquidated damages for each breach of the contract. Armstrong subsequently and over a period of many years repeatedly and openly breached the agreement. When CSI obtained a money judgment against him for his breaches, he avoided the judgment by allegedly spending or "giving away" the $800,000 he received in the settlement. When |
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CSI obtained a permanent injunction
against further breaches, Armstrong fled the jurisdiction and moved to Canada, from where he openly and contemptuously disobeyed the injunction and publicly defamed Judge Thomas by alleging that he had either been bribed or extorted by CSI. Armstrong even appeared in public and on television and radio to publicly attack the Churches of Scientology and its leadership, announcing with glee that he was violating the Courts' Orders by doing so, In June 1997, Armstrong was found in contempt of court by Judge Thomas for intentional violations of the Permanent Injunction, fined $1,000 and sentenced to 2 days of incarceration. Armstrong fled the jurisdiction, and proceeded to enter into a flagrant campaign of further violations of that Order and the Injunction. Thus, in February of 1998, Armstrong was found in repeated and intentional violations of the Court's injunction and sentenced to a further period of incarceration of 26 days. These Orders had no effect upon his conduct. Indeed, if anything, he was only more contumacious, acting outside the United States to violate the injunctions hundreds of times. Thus, a further motion for contempt was filed in 2002 and assigned to this Court. Trial went forward in April 2004. This Court found that Armstrong repeatedly and intentionally violated the injunction, found him further in contempt and sentenced him to an additional 5 days of incarceration. However, the Court also ruled that in light of Armstrong's appearance in court from his long flight from the jurisdiction, both the prior sentences and this Court's own sentence would be deemed served. Armstrong announced victory, determined he was free to flaunt the mercy of this Court, the injunction and any contempt with impunity, and proceeded immediately to do so. Lacking further recourse to affect Armstrong's misconduct, CSI appealed this Court's rulings purging the prior contempt sentences. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding that this Court lacked jurisdiction to alter the sentences imposed in the prior contempt proceedings. (Ex. A, p. 5.) The Court of Appeals also concluded that this Court's "judgment here discharging the bench warrants on the contempt citations on June 5, 1997 and February 20, 1998 and deeming the sentences served was in error." Id., p. 6. |
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The Court further ruled, "The trial court is
directed to reinstate the
sentences previously imposed on Armstrong for the contempt citations of June 5, 1997 and February 20, 1998 and to reinstate the fine on the third contempt citation." Id, p. 7. Armstrong filed a petition for certiorari, which was rejected by the California Supreme Court and the remittitur issued on January 12,2006. (Ex. B.) Plaintiff hoped these rulings finally would cause Armstrong to come to his senses, and thus forbore from further proceedings for more than a year and a half. However, Armstrong has proven to be incorrigible. That forbearance was a futile act, as Armstrong continues to commit numerous violations of the injunction, and publicly to announce that he recognizes he is doing so and will continue to do so. III - CONCLUSION
CSI accordingly moves for reinstatement of the sentences against
Armstrong andfor the issuance of a warrant for his arrest to serve those sentences in accordance with the Court of Appeal's ruling, as an encouragement to Armstrong that he obey the rulings of this and other Courts.
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PROOF OF SERVICE
I am employed in the County of Los Angeles, State of California. I am over the age of eighteen (18) years and not a party to the within action. On July 26, 2007,1 served the foregoing document described as: PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO REINSTATE SENTENCES FOR CONTEMPT; MOTION FOR ISSUANCE OF WARRANT FOR DEFENDANT'S ARREST by Federal Express, prepaid, on interested parties in this action as follows: Gerald Armstrong #1-45950 Alexander Avenue Chilliwack, B.C. V2P 1 L5 Canada and by sending it to Gerald Armstrong via email to: gerry@gerryarmstrong.org and my sending by first class mail, postage prepaid, to: Ford Greene 711 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. San Anselmo, CA 94960 Executed on July 26, 2007 at Los Angeles, California. I declare in accordance with the laws of the State of California, under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing is true and correct.
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6 Motion for
Reinstatement of Contempt Sentences
This document in pdf format
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