Peter Letterese sues church for $250 million

[nozeno]

and having been on staff with him-this portends to be great entertainment for moi,especially as I'm not named in this suit. LOL

I could call Peter and have the complaint amended if you want some more entertainment.

 

[nozeno]

If you read the suit, they have already tried to pay him off...

alex

Well at the time I made my post I hadn't read the suit in its entirety and I doubt you did either since you responded 1/2 hour later. Maybe you're a speed reader.

If you are referring to Page 6, para 9, (a-c) of the pleading, the "pay off" you may be alluding to relates to earlier attempts by the evil church and all of their co-conspirators to steal the rights from Peter and in my opinion have NOTHING to do with whether or not he will walk away with some money at the conclusion of THIS action.

I still don't see what his refusal to be bought off since 1994 has to do with the present case and the potential to settle out of court if he doesn't get his wish for a jury trail?

If this thing doesn't get thrown out it could be a big pain in the ass for the church we love to hate.

 

[alex]

Well at the time I made my post I hadn't read the suit in its entirety and I doubt you did either since you responded 1/2 hour later. Maybe you're a speed reader.

If you are referring to Page 6, para 9, (a-c) of the pleading, the "pay off" you may be alluding to relates to earlier attempts by the evil church and all of their co-conspirators to steal the rights from Peter and in my opinion have NOTHING to do with whether or not he will walk away with some money at the conclusion of THIS action.

I still don't see what his refusal to be bought off since 1994 has to do with the present case and the potential to settle out of court if he doesn't get his wish for a jury trail?

If this thing doesn't get thrown out it could be a big pain in the ass for the church we love to hate.

Used to spend a lot of time in a law office and I know how to get the jist of this kinda thing fast.

I dont think the potential to settle doesnt exist....just that the character of it all suggests a grudge match...

I hope he has money. Law suits are a big investment. If he hasnt got a million dollars set asside for his lawyers retainer, expert witness's and discovery, he is dead in the water on this. Did you know that people do actually invest in lawsuits for a portion of the proceeds?

That will make you cynical, knowing!

alex

 

[nozeno]

Used to spend a lot of time in a law office and I know how to get the jist of this kinda thing fast.

I dont think the potential to settle doesnt exist....just that the character of it all suggests a grudge match...

I hope he has money. Law suits are a big investment. If he hasnt got a million dollars set asside for his lawyers retainer, expert witness's and discovery, he is dead in the water on this. Did you know that people do actually invest in lawsuits for a portion of the proceeds?

That will make you cynical, knowing!

alex

I'm married to a lawyer. Does that make me cynical?

 

[alex]

I'm married to a lawyer. Does that make me cynical?

It should!

And very scared!

alex

 

[The Anabaptist Jacques]

Does she file your briefs?

The Anabaptist Jacques

 

[nozeno]

Does she file your briefs?

The Anabaptist Jacques

Very funny. No, she washes them and I file them. How are ya doing now TAJ? PM me if your thetan moves ya.

It should!

And very scared!

alex

I hate to admit it, but I feel relatively safe in saying that part of the reason I sealed the deal on the marriage was because I was getting a fair number of these 80 page documents directed at me and I thought..."what the hell, free legal advice."

Nobody ever accused me of being smart, but they never accused me of NOT being cheap either.

 

[Free to shine]

Well it all sounds very interesting. If someone has the time to give a brief outline of what on earth it's all about, if possible, that would be great.

 

[The Anabaptist Jacques]

Well it all sounds very interesting. If someone has the time to give a brief outline of what on earth it's all about, if possible, that would be great.

I haven't read the whole legal statement, but the point is that Peter Letterese is suing the Church under the RICO Act. RICO means Racketeering and Influence Corruption. It was set up to go after the mafia. Peter is suing because the Church has probaly been harrassing him because he owns the copyright to Big League Sales which is considered vital to Scientologist. They have or had courses based around it.
If he wins a RICO lawsuit I think the Feds would have to step in if there is proof of crimes. But I am not a lawyer and I don't even watch them on TV.

The Anabaptist Jacques

 

[Free to shine]

I haven't read the whole legal statement, but the point is that Peter Letterese is suing the Church under the RICO Act. RICO means Racketeering and Influence Corruption. It was set up to go after the mafia. Peter is suing because the Church has probaly been harrassing him because he owns the copyright to Big League Sales which is considered vital to Scientologist. They have or had courses based around it.
If he wins a RICO lawsuit I think the Feds would have to step in if there is proof of crimes. But I am not a lawyer and I don't even watch them on TV.

The Anabaptist Jacques

Ah! Thanks, now I see why this is so big.

 

[sallydannce]

How I hate legal docs - so long, so many words!

I know nothing about this chap Peter Letterese but something is telling me that there is much more to this than meets the eye.

From what I have read of the filing doc, this is one serious mother of a law suit. Either this Letterese chap is bat-shit crazy or he has a whole deck of cards sitting in the wings just ready to play. Not necessarily directly related to this case.

Something is telling me that this is going to dovetail into something else very big. Corporate scientology has made some serious enemies over the years & they have not become visible yet. IMO it has only been a waiting game before the big enemies reveal themselves and slap the shit out of scientology.

You cannot realistically piss off as many people, hurt as many people, as scientology has, without some serious backlash.

I am very excited about this law suit.

 

[The Anabaptist Jacques]

I think so too. At first I thought Peter was just out for a quick settlement. But I haven't seen him in 30 years, and someone who has says he's for real on this. So he is serious. I am sure it is well thought out. It may turn out to be the dream we've all been waiting for.

The Anabaptist Jacques

 

[Escalus]

I think so too. At first I thought Peter was just out for a quick settlement. But I haven't seen him in 30 years, and someone who has says he's for real on this. So he is serious. I am sure it is well thought out. It may turn out to be the dream we've all been waiting for.

The Anabaptist Jacques

If he's the same Peter Letterese I knew - it's ALL about the money. Whatever happened to his sister? She's the person who convinced me to fork over my "freeloader debt" 33 years ago. Hmmm... runs in the family I'm thinkin.

 

[Anon678_]

Sorry to spoil your party, but enturb thinks his case is a dog and Co$ could clean him up for their legal costs.

 

[nozeno]

Sorry to spoil your party, but enturb thinks his case is a dog and $os could clean him up for their legal costs.

Well that settles it then. Good night, thanks for coming.

 

[Escalus]

Sorry to spoil your party, but enturb thinks his case is a dog and $os could clean him up for their legal costs.

Good analysis by the lawyerfags over there on this one to be sure. Who mentioned he turned down a settlement though? or am I just having a flashback??

 

[nozeno]

Good analysis by the lawyerfags over there on this one to be sure. Who mentioned he turned down a settlement though? or am I just having a flashback??

Analysis? What analysis? I just got back from enturb. It smells like a boys locker room over there.

I saw a lot of claims about Petey's sanity and why the lawsuit wouldn't survive a RICO claim, but no analysis.

I don't know whether it will survive or it won't but I think I'll wait to see what the United States District Court Southern District of Florida has to say about it.

 

[Anon678_]

Analysis? What analysis?

tl;dr This lawsuit may have entertainment value for anyone amused by legal kookery; it is likely to disappoint in terms of having any serious impact on Scientology.

First, Peter Letterese is a known nutcase. His prior legal exploits involve threatening to sue every person online who had a copy of Steven Fishman's Lonesome Squirrel and the Fishman Affidavit, claiming it was defamatory. While Fishman's factual claims in Lonesome Squirrel are highly questionable and, indeed, probably defamatory, hosting the document itself is probably not going to constitute defamation. As he is suing about the copyright to Les Dane's works, he has already lost his lawsuit on this subject. It seems unlikely the court will allow the issue to be relitigated in the guise of a RICO racketeering suit.

Second, he may be pro se. While this is not always indication of being a kook, in combination with actually being a kook, I would say that this indicates a nearly 100% certainty of the suit being a kook suit, especially in this case, where Letterese has been involved in 78 docketed cases in federal and state courts, and 19 just in the last year and this year to date. It appears he is involved in ongoing personal as well as corporate bankruptcy litigation. Lately, he seems to sue Scientology, former business associates, and possibly other random people unfortunate enough to encounter him.

Regarding the pro se issue, the docket indicates he has a lawyer. The lawyer signature page is missing from the main complaint at Letterese et al v. Church of Scientology International, Inc. et al Document 1 - :: Justia Docs but if you look at the site, it's been incorrectly attached as the first page of "Attachment 1." It appears to be Charles D. Franken. I am, however, skeptical that any lawyer really wrote this. It reads exactly like other material written by Letterese.

Third, I've tried to read the complaint. It's virtually unintelligible. I defy anyone with or without legal training to read this document and ascertain what legal claims are being made. I doubt the court will be able to ascertain exactly what Letterese is talking about either.

I anticipate most of this suit will be dismissed under FRCP 12(b)(6) (failure to state a claim) as well as res judicata (i.e. this has already been decided). I wouldn't be surprised if Letterese is sanctioned for it, too, or ends up being ordered to pay the cult's costs. There's a claim in the complaint that Scientology has spent something like a million defending against Letterese's suits. Considering they are complete slam-dunk dogs, this is massive overspending, and they're unlikely to get it all, but they're likely to be vengeful about swatting a fly. They have so few wins these days that I suppose they really want to milk them.

Copy-pasted for the analysis-recognition impaired.

 

[Escalus]

Analysis? What analysis? I just got back from enturb. It smells like a boys locker room over there.

I saw a lot of claims about Petey's sanity and why the lawsuit wouldn't survive a RICO claim, but no analysis.

I don't know whether it will survive or it won't but I think I'll wait to see what the United States District Court Southern District of Florida has to say about it.

Sidestep the memes and stay with it noz. I wuvs me my Chianons. I just do whatever Daywatch says. But seriously, that's an intense resource. I spend more time there than here, I'll say that much.

But who is going to tell me what happened to Pete's sister, Andrea? Anything?

 

[nozeno]

Copy-pasted for the analysis-recognition impaired.

I've been impaired quite a few times in my life but I wasn't impaired when I read this your Honor.

I've also heard a lot of predictions about the outcomes of lawsuits from a lot of smart lawyers and I'm not saying that your "legal analyst" isn't smart, I'm just sayin' some of them don't write so well, and some of them don't predict so good, so what?

I DID read the entire compliant and I'll admit it wasn't a riveting read but it's not the first bad one I've read.

I'd also like to see some reference to this claim made in the analysis "First, Peter Letterese is a known nutcase." This could be more of the character assassination asserted in the complaint. Maybe your legal analyst is really a dentist.

If anyone wants to know if Charles D. Franken wrote the complaint, why don't you just call him? http://yp.bellsouth.com/sites/cdfranken/

I'm not quite ready to suckle at the teat of your friends opinion.

I rest my case.