OSA Press Release (November 19, 1984)

Source  “PR Newswire”
Author  Heber C. Jentzsch
Date  November 19th, 1984¹

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19/PRN – The Church of Scientology and Mary Sue Hubbard, the
wife of writer L. Ron Hubbard, filed a legal complaint today in Los Angeles Superior
Court  asking  to  enjoin  the  U.S.  Federal  District  Court  of  Los  Angeles  from  releasing
personal letters, documents and early writings of Hubbard that had been the subject of
controversy for more than two years, the church said.

The documents were stolen from the church in 1981, a spokesman said. The materials
had been used as court exhibits in U.S. Federal District Court but were placed under seal
during the course of the court hearing in which the church sought their return, the church
said.

The  church  added  that  although  the  court  had  declined  to  return  the  documents
immediately to the church, the papers were now ordered to be released while the case was
still going through the appeal process.

“This is extraordinary,” said church attorney John Peterson in making the motion today.
“It nullifies the entire purpose of appeal. The issue at stake here is that an individual’s
private papers and writings should not become public property because they are stolen.
Theft does not circumvent the basic right to privacy.”

Peterson said that the Superior Court was being sued because the issue would be going
before  the  court  of  appeals  in  about  a  month  and  the  premature  release  of  these
documents is “a gross violation of due process.”

The documents had been illegally removed from the church by a former employee who
intends “to exploit these stolen papers for his own profit and notoriety,” Peterson said.
“The key issue is the right to privacy since there was never any question that the material
was stolen,” he added.

Rev. Heber Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, said: “Laws
were not created to encourage criminality and strip away constitutional rights. The right
to  privacy  is  sacred  to  Americans  and  was  purchased  at  the  cost  of  blood  and  great
sacrifice by our forefathers. Damned if I will stand by and let a thief take it away.”

Contact – Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch of the Church of Scientology at 213-666-5570.

Notes