Scientology Asks Supreme Court to Enforce Religious Arbitration in Danny Masterson Case
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe Church of Scientology has asked the Supreme Court to enforce a religious arbitration agreement that would bar Danny Masterson’s sexual assault accusers from suing the church for allegedly stalking and harassing them.In a petition filed on Tuesday, the church asked the court to overturn a California Court of Appeal ruling, which held that the women could not be bound by the arbitration agreement because they had left the church.The church argued that the ruling violates the church’s rights under the First Amendment, and amounts to religious discrimination.“The Opinion weaponizes the First Amendment against religious freedom, holding that the First Amendment requires limitations applicable only to religious — and not to secular — arbitration agreements,” the church argued.
The plaintiffs filed suit in August 2019, alleging that the church had engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation after they reported rape allegations against Masterson — a prominent church member — to the LAPD.
The women allege that agents of the church followed them, hacked their email and their security systems, killed their pets, ran them off the road, poisoned trees in their yard and threatened to kill them.
The church has denied the allegations.Masterson has also denied the rape allegations, and is set to face a criminal trial this fall.The church sought to force the women to adhere to the agreements they signed when they joined the church, which mandated that all claims against the church, in perpetuity, would have to be settled by a church-run arbitration process.
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