We talked yesterday with David Keesling, the attorney who is representing the National Association of Forensic Counselors. In 2014 the NAFC filed a massive, complex, and highly technical lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, its leader David Miscavige, and 80 other defendants associated with Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon.The NAFC accused Scientology of misusing the NAFC’s trademarks in a conspiracy aimed at making Narconon appear more legitimate than it actually is. NAFC president Karla Taylor initiated the lawsuit after she learned from former Narconon employees Lucas Catton and Eric Tenorio allegations that NAFC certifications for individual drug counselors were fraudulently obtained, and that Narconon’s websites misleadingly made use of the NAFC’s logo.
It’s the kind of nightmare courtroom scenario that keeps all but a few lawyers from going near litigation with the Church of Scientology.On August 26, a woman who for two years has been suing numerous Scientology-connected people and entities was ordered by a federal district court to turn over the entire contents of her personal laptop hard drive to the people she was suing.Everything on her hard drive. Her personal emails with her own attorneys. Emails to her family members. Her personal photographs. Her personal medical records. Even photographs of her breasts that she had taken to document her fight against breast cancer.Gigabytes of intensely personal information and photos and passcodes, all handed over by a federal magistrate judge to the attorneys representing Scientology’s entities.
