The Court: we are back on the record.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
45
1 The Court: we are back on the record.
2 Mr. Berry, I have endeavored throughout
3 these proceedings to assure that you and everybody that
4 comes before this court on this matter, and hopefully
5 in any matter, is treated with respect and patience and
6 courtesy while not in any time abandoning the
7 responsibilities of my job to assure fairness on all
8 sides.
9 In that spirit, which I have continued to
10 maintain, I invite your response. Take the time you
11 wish. I would urge you, to the extent that you choose.
12 To exercise discretion, judgment, and your rhetoric,
13 but this is the time for you to be heard if you choose
14 to be heard.
15 Go ahead, sir, you may stand or sit as
16 you are more comfortable and make sure I hear you. I
17 am informed Mr. Soter is not appearing by telephone on
18 this matter, and may want to be heard if we to go other
19 matters. And I'll be happy to do that.
20 You have the floor, sir.
21 Mr. Berry: your honor, in the words of the
22 Wall Street Journal after the case Mr. Rosen and I
23 appeared in last year, "the law has been turned on its
24 head." I shall get to that shortly.
25 Let me first of all rebut a few comments
26 of counsel. The motion to recuse the Court noted 8:30
27 A.M. Yesterday morning because some date had to be put
28 on it, is not a notice that requires the presence of
46
1 parties. It's not a notice that requires argument.
2 It's a notice to the Court.
3 There was no intention that counsel come
4 running down here to appear on it because there is no
5 right of such appearance. So I ask the court to
6 dismiss that as a red herring.
7 Also, your honor, as far as the comments
8 about Mr. Rosen, about my being before Judge Beverly
9 running up and down The Courthouse with things in my
10 pockets, I was never even been in that courtroom and i
11 never even appeared in that proceeding.
12 And as for Judge Schneider's remarks, i
13 think what I'll show the court indicates the basis for
14 a Rule 60(b) decision motion being filed over there
15 very shortly. And I finally would ask the court to
16 include in the record here the exparte application
17 earlier this week.
18 The Court: I stated earlier that the
19 applications are of record, and the presumption is that
20 they will be of record, and I will hear from anyone
21 seeking to make them otherwise, but the presumption is
22 that we believe in open court proceedings.
23 H l. Lincoln said that "conscience is the
24 perception if somebody watching."
25 Go ahead, sir.
26 Mr. Berry: what Mr. Rosen didn't tell you when
27 he talked about courtesy was that the record in various
28 courts disposes that he had said to me in open court
47
1 that "he would smash my face in." That, in my book, is
2 not professional courtesy.
3 And what he did not tell you, that before
4 Judge Minning this week, the opposition papers of mine
5 had disappeared from the courtroom, and there was no
6 such finding or suggestion as he has represented to the
7 court.
8 I have heard from the court that it has
9 read all my papers, so I will not address at length the
10 statements --
11 The Court: but feel free to speak to anything
12 you wish. I am not restricting you.
13 Mr. Berry: no, but I think I have fully
14 briefed the arguments as to the applicable law that
15 there are not five cases, that the cases are
16 meritorious, nor the case on the slapp motion renders
17 it so. The settlements render it so. The record is
18 replete with the arguments and authorities and with the
19 misrepresentations and distortions.
20 Mr. Moxon told this court that "a bar
21 card is not a license to commit chaos." And Mr. Chodos
22 told this court that "I didn't think that lawyers do
23 certain things, or do things like this."
24 When I took an oath as a citizen and
25 which I took before Chief Justice Burger, when I took
26 an oath as a lawyer, I took an oath to uphold the law
27 and so did Mr. Moxon. And what does the record show
28 here? That the law has been turned on its head and we
48
1 are now in Alice in Wonderland.
2 Before I get to that, your honor, one
3 final thing about the papers, Exhibit B was included,
4 if counsel had read my declarations, solely for the
5 purpose of showing my compliance with the Court's
6 Monday order. And the Monday order of the Court said I
7 was not to disseminate anything, and I didn't,
8 according to my declaration.
9 If things were disseminated and things
10 were on the net, and I had filed Exhibit b to tell the
11 court that I was not responsible, in anyway, for that
12 Exhibit b. For counsel to argue that I was and that
13 it's a matter that should be held against me, is
14 totally contrary to the record.
15 Earlier this year, the Chief Justice of
16 the United States presided over the impeachment trial
17 of the President and the nation was lectured for months
18 on the importance of honesty, on the importance of
19 oaths, on the seriousness of blackmail, bribery,
20 perjury, subordination of perjury, and the corruption
21 of justice. And what does the evidence before this
22 court now show? That is exactly what happened here.
23 It was corrupt in the inception. Corrupt
24 in the execution and corrupt in the conclusion. And
25 why does Mr. Chaleff appear here today with Mr. Moxon?
26 I don't know. He is a criminal defense lawyer, but the
27 evidence now before the court might lead one to certain
28 conclusions.
49
1 I came to this courthouse seeking
2 justice. Instead, I was pummeled and punished and
3 never knew why. Feeling like the character in
4 "Darkness at Noon," surrounded by lies and injustice
5 and unable to get out.
6 The Court: a great book.
7 Mr. Berry: yes.
8 And until Mr. Cipriano came forward, and
9 even when he came forward, I was suspicious. I thought
10 it was a setup, but what has Mr. Cipriano told us?
11 With documents attached to his declaration, only some
12 of the documents, fifty such documents with the hands
13 of counsel upon them. What has he told us?
14 On May 4, 1994, Mr. Ingram appeared on
15 his doorstep, and according to this court's record, the
16 declarations of Mr. Bowels, Mr. Ingram, and Mr. Farny
17 and the representations of Mr. Moxon, Mr. Ingram was
18 hired by Mr. Moxon as part of an investigation of me.
19 That is part of the record on the SLAPP suit motion
20 which I have submitted as law of the case and as to the
21 merits to the Cipriano action.
22 And paragraph fourteen of the declaration
23 of Mr. Cipriano, Exhibit b, I'm going to spend some
24 time with the Cipriano declaration, the court may wish
25 to go through this.
26 The Court: proceed.
27 Mr. Berry: paragraph fourteen indicates that
28 the very document I came to seek justice on from this
50
1 court, the May 5 Cipriano declaration was procured,
2 according to paragraphs fourteen through twenty, by
3 blackmail, and it constituted perjury.
4 Mr. Cipriano was threatened by being
5 referred to the authorities in new jersey in connection
6 with his outstanding arrest warrant if he did not sign
7 the very document that gave rise to this litigation.
8 It was blackmail and subordination of perjury on this
9 court's record in connection with the matters that this
10 litigation has involved.
11 And what happened then, Mr. Moxon, on his
12 own admission, took that product of bribery, blackmail,
13 and perjury and published it across the world. It is
14 still being published. Your honor can go to internet
15 and have it downloaded right now.
16 The Court: let everybody understand, I have
17 confined myself in this case to the pleadings tendered
18 to this court. I have not sought any information about
19 this case from any source outside of this court, and
20 the only time I acquired any information, even
21 tangentially, I put on the record.
22 That is, one night, unable to sleep in
23 the middle of the night watching some obscure tv
24 channel, Mr. Berry's face appeared in the course of an
25 article about scientology.
26 I reported that dutifully and did not pay
27 attention to it, and I did not cruise the internet or
28 surf the internet for things relevant to this case.
51
1 Trust me. When I read this case, I don't want anything
2 more to do with it.
3 I appreciate the importance of the
4 internet to the arguments being made in connection with
5 the petition which suggest to provide an arguably
6 protected forum for accusations against parties that
7 might be more subject to liable and slander laws, but
8 for them being made in connection with litigation as a
9 ground for deeming this to be conduct which invoked the
10 sanctions invited by the petition, but I do want
11 everybody to understand that I have not had any
12 internet contact with this case, other than that which
13 has been tendered to me in the papers by way of, in the
14 form of the internet documents.
15 Go ahead.
16 Mr. Berry: at some point in time, your honor,
17 I managed to locate Mr. Cipriano. And turning now to
18 paragraph twenty-three of his declaration, and let me
19 for clarification say all the reference to
20 Mr. Cipriano's declaration shall be to the August 9,
21 1999 declaration.
22 Paragraph twenty-three of his declaration
23 set forth that he was visited, unrequested by
24 Mr. Moxon's agent, Mr. Ingram, who told him that he may
25 be sued by me, and that he had a spy in my office and
26 had gotten a copy of the draft complaint and showed it
27 to him. His complaint was not even on file.
28 Then paragraph twenty-four, Mr. Moxon and
52
1 Mr. Ingram then had Mr. Cipriano come to Los Angeles
2 where discussions about the pending arrest warrant
3 again occurred.
4 On January 23, Mr. Moxon and Mr. Cipriano
5 had a meeting. And according to paragraph twenty-eight
6 of the declaration, Mr. Moxon said, "well, certainly if
7 Berry did sue you, then I would represent you at no
8 cost. You were helpful to me, and we will not leave
9 you alone to fight this battle."
10 What happens next, I sent Mr. Cipriano
11 some e-mails suggesting that the wiser course would be
12 settlement. In comes a Saturday e-mail on March 21,
13 1998, I'm entertaining and receive a call from
14 Mr. Cipriano to go to the police station. He has had
15 enough from both sides. I thought that was
16 inappropriate to have any further comment with
17 Mr. Cipriano. If he wanted to go to the police he
18 should do so.
19 Instead, Mr. Moxon and Mr. Ingram rush
20 over to Mr. Cipriano's apartment. Paragraphs
21 twenty-one to thirty-six of his declaration,
22 scientology's office of special affairs in connection
23 with Mr. Cipriano's visit faxes him materials about me,
24 that is an Exhibit to the Cipriano declaration, Exhibit
25 five to his declaration.
26 And as the paragraphs show, he was bribed
27 in the most blatant and brutal manner. Mr. Moxon
28 offered his then girlfriend anything she wanted, a job,
53
1 money, anything. Eventually, she wanted away from
2 Mr. Moxon, but that is another part of the declaration.
3 Mr. Moxon made it clear that Mr. Cipriano
4 would not have to pay a dime in legal fees or any other
5 fees relating to this matter and that the church of
6 scientology would pay for everything. The next week
7 Mr. Moxon sent over requests for the state bar to
8 investigate me to be signed by Mr. Cipriano and that is
9 paragraph thirty-four.
10 And then Mr. Moxon provided some free
11 legal services because Mr. Cipriano's girlfriend wanted
12 well away from this. And on March 25, according to
13 paragraph thirty-six, Mr. Moxon asked Mr. Cipriano to
14 have his one meeting with Mr. Soter. He met Mr. Soter
15 at the Wasserman law offices and signed a retainer
16 agreement so Mr. Soter could also provide
17 representation.
18 We now know that Castleman of that law
19 firm is somehow connected with one of the parties that
20 was in this case, Castleman, and according to the
21 retainer agreement which is Exhibit 10, Mr. Moxon was
22 to pay for all of Mr. Cipriano's legal fees that were
23 incurred by Mr. Soter. And indeed, to the best of
24 Mr. Cipriano's knowledge, has done so. Mr. Cipriano
25 might testify that he has seen the bills and that they
26 have been paid.
27 Paragraph thirty-seven of the Cipriano
28 declaration demonstrates that Mr. Moxon then found
54
1
1 Mr. Cipriano a job at earthlink where he then worked
2 for the next month or so. And on april 4, 1998,
3 according to paragraph forty-one, Mr. Moxon sent him an
4 e-mail saying, "the fun was starting with Berry." And
5 that is Exhibit thirteen to the declaration.
6 And at paragraphs forty-two and
7 forty-three, Mr. Moxon then has Mr. Cipriano visit the
8 Church of Scientology's premises and gives him a
9 financial incentive of around $750,000 in respect of
10 his testimony. Mr. Cipriano says he doesn't want to be
11 paid for his testimony. So Mr. Moxon then uses a
12 charitable vehicle called "Day of the Child" and tells
13 Mr. Cipriano quote, in plain words, that he would
14 syndicate the monies needed with some of the wealthy
15 scientologists and get it funded.
16 Turning now to paragraph forty-five of
17 the Cipriano declaration, we have an e-mail, Exhibit
18 fifteen, describing percentages in all of this. In
19 this document that was to be part of an sec file where
20 that securities fraud is another matter.
21 The Court: happily, that is not on my plate.
22 Mr. Berry: but that document is also part of
23 the record.
24 Then, your honor, on May 25, 1998,
25 paragraph forty-seven, Mr. Moxon arranges for $2,500 to
26 be wired from a Jeffrey Barton for the benefit of
27 Mr. Cipriano and a promissory note was signed so it
28 didn't look like scientology was paying the money.
55
1 Quote, while he was a witness, close quote. That is
2 Exhibit 17.
3 Then at paragraph forty-eight, Mr. Moxon
4 tells Mr. Cipriano that the case has been moved to this
5 court, and I will not go further into the allegations
6 there.
7 The court: I don't care it rolls off my back.
8 Say what you want to say.
9 Mr. Berry: well, your honor, to take the court
10 at its word, the allegations were without any merit and
11 perhaps well-founded optimism at least to this point.
12 Just before his deposition in this case
13 on June 17, 1998, Mr. Moxon moved Mr. Cipriano into a
14 scientology bordering house, free of charge, owned by
15 Mr. Ingram's assistant to get him away from his former
16 girlfriend who, Mr. Moxon thought, was toxic to him.
17 And to quote, keep me from bolting to Mr. Berry's side
18 of the lawsuit.
19 The Court: it's not a word that occurred to me
20 in a relationship. I'll have to think about that.
21 That is an interesting way to describe a relationship.
22 This case, if nothing else, has had its
23 moments of poetry.
24 Mr. Berry: paragraph fifty, in preparation for
25 Mr. Cipriano's deposition in this case, on june 29 and
26 30, 1998, Mr. Moxon invited Mr. Cipriano to his home
27 and prepared him to be deposed. And let me add, your
28 honor, this is a deposition which has been noticed by
56
1 counsel for Mr. Barton who is also Mr. Moxon's client.
2 This is confusing even to me.
3 Mr. Cipriano represented by Mr. Moxon,
4 had his deposition noticed by his co-defendant.
5 Mr. Barton represented by Mr. Rosen, Mr. Barton is now
6 Mr. Moxon's client as well and had been paid, used to
7 pay money to Mr. Cipriano.
8 The Court: Mr. Berry, I need to ask for sixty
9 seconds. Would you hold for me just right there.
10 (Short break while reporter changes paper.)
11 The Court: thank you, sir.
12 Mr. Berry: let me return to the looking glass
13 and go further into the rabbit hole.
14 On June 29 and 30 1998, Mr. Moxon
15 prepares Mr. Cipriano for his deposition. Paragraph
16 fifty, "Mr. Moxon told me to lie about the ages of
17 Mr. Berry's intimate relationships and to antagonize
18 him and get Mr. Berry to say things that he might not
19 normally say. Mr. Moxon told me to get Mr. Berry
20 pissed off at the deposition. It appeared to me this
21 was a game for Mr. Moxon and it was more about scaring
22 Mr. Berry than about a real cause of action based on
23 truthful facts."
24 Something I submit, your honor,
25 characterizes the defense in this case.
26 And then at paragraph fifty-one,
27 "the day of the deposition on July 1,
28 1998, I arrived in downtown Los Angeles at the Paul,
57
1 Hastings, Janofsky, and Walker law firm and met with
2 Mr. Moxon, Mr. Sandy Rosen, Mr. Michael Rinder, who is
3 here in this courtroom today, the head of the office of
4 special affairs for scientology, with Barbara Reeves
5 and numerous other church of scientology officers and
6 special affairs officials at 8:30 a.M. They were
7 standing around."
8 Let me skip.
9 "I was prepared by Mr. Rosen and given a
10 copy of Mr. Berry's bankruptcy documents. I was told
11 by Mr. Rosen to pick the items in the bankruptcy that I
12 thought might be false and on which Mr. Berry had
13 filed. Mr. Rosen told me that when I was unsure of an
14 item to say it was false.
15 Each time, turning now to paragraph
16 fifty-four, "immediately following my deposition I was
17 moved to Palm Springs to get away from Los Angeles.
18 Mr. Moxon told me that this was the church of
19 scientology witness protection program. And that it
20 was fifteen miles from international headquarters for
21 the church of scientology in Gilbert Hot Springs.
22 Under the promise that Mr. Moxon would cover all
23 expenses and get Day of the Child funded and off the
24 ground."
25 Paragraph fifty-five, Mr. Cipriano
26 arrives in Palm Springs, quote and in phone
27 conversations with Mr. Moxon, I indicated that the
28 budget numbers for day of the child were coming in at
58
1 around $520,000 for the first year. He indicated that
2 he had no problem with that.
3 And then paragraphs fifty-six and
4 fifty-seven deal with a meeting Mr. Moxon had in Palm
5 Springs with Mr. Cipriano. And as a result of that,
6 paragraph fifty-nine, Mr. Moxon rents a condomimum for
7 the witness to live. And the rental agreement in
8 Mr. Moxon's name is attached to the declaration as an
9 Exhibit.
10 On July 27, 1998, Mr. Moxon completed the
11 rental application and sent $1,074 to the Palm Springs
12 rental agency and signed a lease for the premises at
13 $500 a month for seven months. That is Exhibit 21, 20
14 and 22.
15 Additionally, Mr. Moxon started sending
16 $200 to $400 every week via western union or money
17 gram. Every month thereafter Mr. Moxon would call me
18 to his Los Angeles office and give me checks drawn on
19 Moxon and Kobrin ranging in amounts from $500 to $1,000
20 for living expenses.
21 The Court: may I inquire, Mr. Berry, I am
22 prepared to hear from you on matters germane to the
23 petition and I have a very broad sense of relevance.
24 Really want to give you your day in court. I'm having
25 trouble seeing the nexus to that which you are reciting
26 and Mr. Chaleff's petition.
27 Tell me what I'm missing. I want to be
28 indulgent, but I do have some duty to other folks that
1
59
1 are waiting around for me some day to get around to
2 their litigation on today's calendar.
3 Mr. Berry: Your honor, the evidence I am
4 referring to demonstrates that this was a legal setup
5 from the get go.
6 The Court: Very well, proceed.
7 Mr. Berry: That Mr. Moxon went out to hire and
8 suborn perjury and when he obtained that perjury, he
9 solicited the purjuror in a case in which he was --
10 your honor, this could not be more material.
11 The Court: go ahead.
12 Mr. Berry: one of those checks is even
13 attached as an Exhibit and we shall get to that.
14 Paragraph sixty, on August 6, 1998,
15 Mr. Moxon sent me a Federal Express letter informing me
16 that Mr. Moxon had retained Lloyd Levinson in New
17 Jersey.
18 The Court: may I make an interruption just to
19 accommodate those that are waiting on today's calendar
20 and then I will hear you out.
21 (Short break.)
22 The Court: Mr. Berry, thank you very much for
23 the interruption. I do have a goal of finishing in the
24 midday timeframe and I hope your arguments will take no
25 more than perhaps forty-five minutes, is that
26 reasonable request?
27 Mr. Moxon: probably less than that.
28 Mr. Berry: less than that, your honor.
60
1 The Court: I appreciate that. I'm not trying
2 to rush you, but I am trying to proceed with some
3 orderly progress to events here. I'm just trying to be
4 fair.
5 Mr. Berry: your honor, I was just addressing
6 the court on Mr. Moxon obtaining $20,000 to send to an
7 attorney in New Jersey to have a criminal record
8 expunged so it could not be used in this courtroom as
9 impeachment in a matter then pending. And that is
10 paragraphs sixty, seventy, seventy-one, and
11 seventy-three of the Cipriano declaration.
12 And the declaration goes on and on.
13 Paragraph sixty-one, about paying
14 incorporation fees for Mr. Cipriano's not to profit.
15 About him paying the phone bills for Mr. Cipriano,
16 sixty-two, about having Mr. Cipriano go
17 to the tabloids in connection with me, a matter which
18 may seem a little hypocritical in light of the some of
19 the assertions he has made herein.
20 The Court: most swords in this case have two
21 edges.
22 Mr. Berry: I realize that, your honor, but I
23 have not been to the tabloids of my own volition before
24 making instigated contact.
25 Paragraphs sixty-five and sixty-six, that
26 the Paul, Hastings law firm is now dropping its $490
27 per hour fees, no discounts to anyone, in order to
28 provide cheap services to Mr. Cipriano for his charity.
61
1 And on october 6, 1998, Mr. Moxon has
2 Mr. Cipriano lease a car. Mr. Moxon doesn't choose the
3 car. He doesn't even see the car. He never rides in
4 the car. And he seizes the car outside of my office
5 and premises last week when he learned that
6 Mr. Cipriano had decided to tell the truth. And that
7 is Exhibits 27, the car incident with Mr. Moxon's name
8 on it. And then in November 1998, paragraph
9 seventy-two, Exhibit 32, Mr. Moxon arranges for
10 Mr. Chait to give money for Mr. Cipriano's benefit.
11 And let the record reflect I'm missing
12 out a lot of the stuff in here in the interest of
13 The Court: it's all of record. I understand.
14 Mr. Berry: the court may recall that my former
15 partners found the scientology financial black hole a
16 problem financially.
17 Paragraph seventy-five shows Mr. Moxon,
18 and then having what appeared to be improper
19 communications at that time.
20 Paragraph seventy-nine, Mr. Moxon then
21 buys Mr. Cipriano a computer on his credit card. And
22 then handled legal affairs for his friends, free of
23 charge. Paragraph eighty, and then has Mr. Cipriano
24 introduce him and Mr. Ingram to a teen-age transvestite
25 in hollywood from whom he obtained a perjured
26 declaration. Someone I have never met or heard of in
27 my life.
28 And then Mr. Moxon, on January 6,
62
1 paragraph eighty-six, rents a five bedroom house in
2 Palm Springs for Mr. Cipriano during the pendency of
3 this case at a rent of $1,295 per month and that
4 document is Exhibit forty, forty-one, forty-two and
5 forty-three. So Mr. Cipriano is now moved from the
6 condominium to the five bedroom house.
7 Paragraph ninety-three is particularly
8 telling. Mr. Moxon recognized Mr. Cipriano has done
9 well. And starts handling certain details and those
10 financial details continued through until june 7, when
11 Mr. Moxon sends a check, Exhibit forty-eight, to
12 Mr. Cipriano for $800.
13 Your honor, those few excerpts from the
14 Cipriano declaration that is part of this record shows
15 that Mr. Moxon, along with other persons, went out and
16 procured perjury, published it against me on their own
17 admission in this record claiming I rejected defense
18 section 47(b) in the SLAPP statute, and when I sued
19 solicited the representation of the person they had
20 procured the perjury from, paid to perpetrate and
21 continue that perjury, coached perjury, and made other
22 payments to the witness and client in a manner that
23 clearly constitutes the obstruction of justice and
24 witness tampering, and that that conduct permeates,
25 pollutes and contaminates and taints this entire
26 proceeding.
27 Hence my request by exparte application
28 for a twenty-five page, page limit on the motion for
63
1 contempt against Mr. Moxon and sanctions. I request
2 that it be granted in Judge Minning's court in
3 connection with papers that will be filed before Judge
4 Schneidei;..
5 How can, in good faith, Mr. Moxon as
6 representative say Judge Schneider sanctioned me when
7 the very product of that sanction request is now known
8 to be polluted, tainted, and corrupted.
9 When I was sanctioned, your honor, for
10 alleging that Mr. Moxon was engaged in criminal conduct
11 when we now know he was concurrently engaged in that
12 very same criminal conduct according to the record.
13 I came to this court to seek justice, and
14 what happened, justice was seduced, seduced by counsel
15 using money to corrupt the system. At the heart of the
16 proceeding to have me declared a vexatious litigant, is
17 the premise that my complaint lacked legal or factual
18 merit. We now know that it had legal and factual
19 merit. That the complaint I made about the original
20 Cipriano declaration was true. I did not know at the
21 time it had been suborned by perjury which was
22 perpetrated. And had this proceeding not been an
23 operation~ of the church of scientology we would not be
24 here today because the evidence also shows in Mr.
25 Cipriano's declaration that in March last year, and
26 this is also attached to the exparte proceeding, in
27 march, Mr. Cipriano gave written instructions to Mr.
28 Moxon to settle this litigation along the lines I had
64
1 requested with e-mail. What did Mr. Moxon do? He used
2 my e-mail as a pretense to claim that no discovery
3 should be provided to me. No documents, no
4 interrogatory responses because I was a threat to Mr.
5 Cipriano who had given him instructions to settle this
6 case. And it was only recently as the Cipriano
7 declaration demonstrates that Mr. Cipriano found out
8 that his instructions had never been honored. In other
9 words, if these instructions had been honored, this
10 court would never have seen this case. It would not
11 have gotten as far up as Judge Lager and Judge
12 Sohegian.
13 Mr. Barton and Mr. Chait, who also bring
14 this motion, have been demonstrably involved in the
15 solicitation, subordination, and purchase of the
16 perjury and continuing the payments to the witness to
17 keep maintaining that perjury.
18 The church of scientology international
19 which brings this motion is implicated with its own
20 document soliciting the representation of Mr. Cipriano.
21 When the court says what has the Cipriano declaration
22 got to do with this proceeding, it has everything to do
23 with this proceeding. It is now the most fundamentally
24 important document in the proceeding because it shows
25 that the entire defense was premised on the
26 solicitation, procurement and perpetration of perjury.
27 As I said at the inception, your honor, I
28 took an oath to honor the law and so did Mr. Moxon, and
65
1
1 as my papers and the exparte applications demonstrate,
2 we have now had lawyer lawlessness resembling a John
3 Grisham novel.
4 To call me a vexatious litigant stands
5 the law on its head. And takes us down that rabbit
6 hole into Alice in Wonderland. The people perpetrating
7 the perjury, the corruption of justice, the obstruction
8 of justice and the witness tampering now claim that the
9 person who sought redress should be denominated as a
10 vexatious litigant for doing so.
11 In the words of the Wall Street Journal
12 from Mr. Rosen last year in the editorial, "that stands
13 the law on its head."
14 Counsel have an obligation to bring
15 papers such as this in good faith. They attest in
16 their filing that they have merit, factually and
17 legally. Yet since the filing of these papers, the
18 Cipriano declaration has been provided to them. I
19 would have expected in the light of the Cipriano
20 declaration that counsel would take the motion off
21 calendar, but not so, with total arrogance, the motion
22 is maintained on calendar and on the basis of a record
23 that reads like a sewer when it comes to integrity,
24 truth, justice, and to quote Superman, the American
25 Way, they now seek to have me declared a vexatious
26 litigant. Anyone wonder why I stand here saying I feel
27 like Darkness at Noon.
28 The Court: not only a great novel, but the way
j
66
11 refer to my contracts class at the university.
2 Mr. Berry: this court is now fully apprised of
3 these matters. It has an inherent jurisdiction to
4 punish those responsible without the motion I will be
5 bringing, irrespective of the outcome of this hearing.
6 Contempt, criminal and civil is written
7 all over this matter. Sanctions is written all over
8 this matter. Criminal conduct screams from these
9 papers. The court's discretion in granting the
10 vexatious litigant motion must be based on law and
11 equity and fairness.
12 I submit, your honor, that it would be
13 the most unequitable thing, the most unfair thing to
14 punish a litigant for seeking redress for conduct that
15 was shown to be criminal in its inception and
16 perpetration.
17 The Court: I think, Mr. Berry, for purposes of
18 focusing on the petition, the petition may not be so
19 much about the redress you have sought but how you have
20 done it. Maybe not so much the what, but he how and
21 you may want to address those parts of the allegation.
22 Mr. Berry: the petition as I have argued in my
23 opposition, your honor, asserts that I am a frivolous
24 litigant. A litigant who brings a proceeding based
25 upon defamation subsequently shown to be procured by
26 perjury to be defended by obstruction and corruption of
27 justice and witness tampering, it's the very antitheses
28 of a vexatious litigant.
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1 The Cipriano case, the cases were
2 dismissed because I had been overwhelmed by discovery.
3 Mr. Moxon on behalf of Mr. Chait who had paid for some
4 of this obstruction of justice and witness tampering as
5 an officer of the court is overwhelming me with
6 discovery which has now been shown to be brought in
7 less than good faith.
8 And when the court dismissed the Chait
9 case, it was clear that Barton and the others were
10 going to be dismissed shortly thereafter. For the same
11 reasons, the parties whose conduct is now known to have
12 irretrievably tainted the process, throw dismissed
13 voluntarily without prejudice, after two parties had
14 paid monies in settlement substantial monies. That
15 would indicated that those parties considered the
16 matter to have some merit.
17 If this matter had so little merit, what
18 is the necessity to have so many high priced lawyers
19 from all over the nation defending the perpetration and
20 procurement of criminal conduct? If this matter is so
21 lacking in legal and factual merits, why were so many
22 motions necessary on their part? Why were so many
23 sanction motions brought now known to be frivolous?
24 The conduct of the defendants responsible
25 for this travesty of justice permeates the entire
26 proceedings. As my opposition papers demonstrate, there
27 had not been five cases that had been adjudicated
28 contrary to me at the most there is two. And the
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i
1 papers are replete showing the cases were dismissed
2 only at their insistence, as part of a tolling
3 agreement for settlement discussions that turned out to
4 be bogus. Upon representations that could be filed
5 again in circumstances where it's clear they were
6 contriving a basis to bring this motion.
7 And in the court thinks my behavior has
8 been less than civil at times, I ask it to remember
9 that I stand here, at least in my mind, and that of
10 many others outside of this courtroom the product of a
11 travesty and legal lynching at the hands of the
12 defendants who have been shown to approach this court
13 in less than good faith on both the law and the merits.
14 And even if there was a shred, a
15 scintilla of evidence to support this malicious motion,
16 the court should balance the equities so as not to
17 destroy the professional light of someone who has
18 endured such outrageous conduct in the name of law,
19 order, and justice.
20 As Mr. Chodos said, "lawyers don't do
21 that sort of thing." The record now shows that lawyers
22 do. Not only lawyers within the church of scientology
23 but to an certain extent, lawyers within big law firms
24 blinded by fees. This is a matter for judicial
25 discretion.
