OSA Press Release (June 25, 1984)

Source  “PR Newswire”
Author  Heber Jentzsch
Date  June 25th, 1984¹

LOS  ANGELES,  June  25/PRN  –  Church  of  Scientology  attorney  John  Peterson
announced  Friday  that  he  had  filed  a  notice  of  appeal  with  the  Superior  Court  of
California and an emergency application for stay pending the appeal of a decision issued
June 21 by Superior Court Judge Paul Breckenridge.

Breckenridge issued a memorandum of intended decision in a suit brought by the church
and  Mrs.  L.  Ron  Hubbard  against  a  former  church  employee,  Gerald  Armstrong,  for
unlawfully  taking  thousands  of  pages  of  valuable  documents  and  personal  papers
belonging to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and Mrs. Hubbard.

The decision, according to Peterson, “was completely ludicrous. On the one hand, it is
clear that the trial court found there was an invasion of privacy and conversion of the
documents and papers by Armstrong for purposes other than those for which they were
entrusted to him. Yet, the trial court ordered that the personal and private documents be
unsealed and made available for public access.

“Under this decision,” Peterson said, “any person or institution – religious or otherwise –
is no longer safe from anyone just coming along and stealing their personal effects and
then exposing them to public view.”

According  to  the  emergency  application  to  the  California  Appeals  Court,  Peterson  is
asking the court to maintain an earlier injunction against the public use or inspection of
the documents taken by Armstrong.

Peterson  went  on  to  say  that  “since  the  Superior  Court’s  unsealing  order  materially
dissolved  the  prior  injunction  and  changed  the  status  quo,  a  stay  by  the  appeals  court
seems mandatory.

Contact – John Peterson at 213-386-4303, 213-661-2747 or 213-654-8064 for the Church
of Scientology, or after hours Rev. Heber Jentzsch of the Church of Scientology at 213-
666-5570.

Notes