Declaration of Daniel A. Leipold

DECLARATION OF DANIEL A. LEIPOLD I, DANIEL A. LEIPOLD, declare as follows: 1. I am an attorney at law duly licensed to practice before all the courts of the State of California. 2. I have personal knowledge of all facts contained within this declaration, except those stated on information and belief, which I believe to be true. If called to testify to any facts contained within this declaration, I could and would be competently able to do so. 3. I am a partner in the law firm of Hagenbaugh & Murphy, attorneys of record herein for Lawrence Wollersheim. Hagenbaugh & Murphy also represented Lawrence Wollersheim at the trial court level and all appellate court levels in Church of Scientology v. Lawrence Wollersheim (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 628. 4. In addition, my firm represents Mr. Wollersheim in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado in Bridge Publications, Inc., v. FACTNet, Inc., et al., Case Number 95-K-2143. For the Court's convenience I have prepared a chart entitled "Wollersheim Litigation History" which is appended to this motion (Exhibit "H"). It sets forth in abbreviated form a synopsis of the history of the five "Wollersheim cases." 5. In addition to my experience defending the "Wollersheim cases", I have also defended the Cult Awareness Network (hereinafter "CAN") in dozens of cases filed in state and federal court by members of the Church of Scientology who I am informed and believe were "fronting" these frivolous lawsuits for the Office of Special Affairs of Scientology. See, Hart v. Cult Awareness Network (1993) 13 Cal.App.4th 777, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d 705. 6. Through the defense of the "Wollersheim cases" and the "CAN cases" I have become familiar with Scientology's litigation tactics. The Church of Scientology is no more and no less than litigation terrorists. It uses serial litigation to hound its "enemies" into oblivion or as L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology has stated, to "utterly destroy" them (Exhibit "G"). Scientology simply goes from one specious lawsuit to the next using "acceptable truths" (i.e., false triable issues of fact) to sustain the suits as long as possible. They don't care if they lose - they don't care if they're sanctioned - they simply need to sustain the serial litigation from their tax exempt resources until their "enemies" "sue for peace" or collapse. 7. Attached hereto are the following documents: Exhibit "C" - A true and correct copy of the reporter's transcript of proceedings dated December 11, 1997, reflecting oral argument on appellant's motion to vacate before the Honorable John P. Shook, Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Exhibit "E" - A true and correct copy of the reporter's transcript of proceedings dated April 11, 1997, post-appeal proceedings in Church of Scientology of California v. Wollersheim, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case Number BC074815, the Honorable Alan G. Buckner, presiding. Exhibit "H" - A true and correct copy of Scientology's "secret settlement agreement" of October 1, 1993, with the Internal Revenue Service which was downloaded from the Wall Street Journal's website. Exhibit "I" - A true and correct copy of the extraordinary declaration of the Honorable James M. Ideman dated June 17, 1993, filed in the Wollersheim/Scott case (Wollersheim II, RTC and CSI v. Wollersheim, 971 F.2d 364 consolidated with Dist.Ct. action RTC, et al. v. Robin Scott, et al., Civil Action 85- 711MRP). 8. Whenever I have argued that the corporate structure of Scientology was a "sham" it has repeatedly been Scientology's argument that it could not conceivably be a sham as the IRS had thoroughly investigated Scientology and granted it tax exempt status, thus approving the reality of its corporate structure. Exhibit "H" is a true and correct copy of the "secret settlement agreement" between Scientology and the IRS. This agreement only became public on December 30, 1997, when the Wall Street Journal published an article. Review of this agreement substantiates every argument I have ever made that the corporate structure of Scientology is a sham. The "secret settlement agreement" (Exhibit H), sets up a Church Tax Compliance Committee to act ultravires of the corporate lines of 114 separate corporations to insure compliance with the corporations' obligations to the IRS. Both the IRS and Scientology implicitly recognize the sham nature of Scientology's corporate structure and the ability of RTC's Chairman of the Board, David Miscavige to control all activity within Scientology. 9. The declaration of James M. Ideman has been attached hereto to illustrate that this Court is by no means alone in its holdings with reference to abusive Scientology litigation tactics. 10. I have no intention of depriving RTC or CSI of their appellate rights herein, nor do I have any intention of depriving them of their due process rights. However, I request that the Court grant this motion to expedite this appeal so that the expense and delay of the litigation process cannot be used by Scientology to further abuse Mr. Wollersheim and make a mockery of the civil litigation system. 11. I have attached hereto a proposed scheduling order for consideration by the Court. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this day of February, 1998, at Orange, California. DANIEL A. LEIPOLD