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Scientology at center of unusual lawsuitBy THOMAS C. TOBIN © St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 1998 Besides the church and its top officials, the list of defendants includes the U.S. government, President Clinton and some members of his Cabinet as well as actor and prominent Scientologist John Travolta. The lawsuit was filed last week by Michael Philip Pattinson, who left Scientology in 1997 after nearly 25 years. His attorney, Graham E. Berry of Los Angeles, is one of a handful of lawyers who have fought Scientology in court over the years. Scientology spokesman Brian Anderson dismissed the lawsuit as "tabloid litigation" and said Berry was using Pattinson as a puppet to extort money from the church. Pattinson, 48, says in his suit he spent about $500,000 on Scientology because the church promised its counseling would rid him of homosexual urges and give him special abilities, such as being able to "exteriorize" or come and go from one's body. He alleges the counseling was overpriced, that it failed to help him and that church officials exploited and ruined his career, which included creating artwork for prominent Scientologists in Clearwater. Pattinson also charges that church staffers twice held him captive as they tried to commit him to $7,400 worth of Scientology counseling. In a 1996 incident, reported to Clearwater police in 1997, Pattinson said he escaped by running from Scientology's Sandcastle Hotel on Drew Street in Clearwater as two staffers chased him. Prosecutors took no action because Pattinson had written letters to the staffers apologizing for his own behavior during the Sandcastle incident. "The bright side of the "image' of Scientology was what (Pattinson) paid for," the lawsuit states. "The dark side of the Scientology scam is what (he) received." The lawsuit also accuses the U.S. government of succumbing to blackmail and conspiring with Scientology when the IRS granted the church tax-exempt status in 1993. President Clinton is accused of allowing himself to be "seduced" by Scientology's celebrity culture, including actor Travolta. The lawsuit alleges the Clinton administration has tailored its foreign policy to further Scientology's goals in Germany and Sweden. The suit accuses Travolta, the most visible of Scientology's celebrity members, of misrepresenting the benefits of church counseling to the public. Berry said he has several other clients planning major lawsuits against Scientology in coming weeks. He said Pattinson's experience offers "a unique opportunity to examine many things which have not been examined in the past against Scientology." Said Anderson: "Anyone who files an insane lawsuit like this and names the president of the United States and members of his Cabinet should seek professional help." He predicted Berry would be sanctioned and said Pattinson is welcome to address his grievances with the church. Outside the church, reaction to the lawsuit was mixed. "I think it's right on the money," said Ford Greene, a San Francisco lawyer who has litigated against Scientology for 10 years. "If it wasn't true, it would be entirely grandiose," he said. "But there isn't one fact that I've read in there so far that's even slightly off base." Berry is less guarded than other lawyers in his approach to Scientology, said Stephen A. Kent, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta who monitors the church. "The lawsuit takes a big picture of Scientology," Kent said. "It remains to be seen whether the court accepts such a broad net-casting."
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British artist who once lived in Clearwater is suing the Church of Scientology in an unusual federal lawsuit filed in California.
