Garcias decry Scientology kangaroo 'arbitration' and ask judge to reinstate fraud lawsuit - 2018-01-20

Garcias decry Scientology kangaroo 'arbitration' and ask judge to reinstate fraud lawsuit January 20, 2018, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker

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In October, Luis Garcia went on Facebook to declare that the Scientology "arbitration" he'd been forced to endure turned out to be an utter joke. But now, with a new court filing, we're learning just what a farce the procedure was as the Garcias ask the federal court, once again, to restore their fraud lawsuit against the church.

We've been following this case now for five years, and our readers have seen it go through quite a few ups and downs. The Garcias donated huge sums to the church while they were members, and sued in January 2013 saying that they had been lied to and defrauded when they were pressured to give those donations.

But rather than hear their fraud claim in a civil trial, Tampa Federal Judge James Whittemore agreed with the church that because the Garcias had signed draconian membership contracts, they were obliged to take their grievances to an internal arbitration procedure, and he stayed the lawsuit.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | author = Tony Ortega | title = Garcias decry Scientology kangaroo 'arbitration' and ask judge to reinstate fraud lawsuit | url = https://tonyortega.org/2018/01/20/garcias-decry-scientology-kangaroo-arbitration-and-ask-judge-to-reinstate-fraud-lawsuit/ | work = Underground Bunker | date = January 20, 2018 | accessdate = January 20, 2018 }}