‘No Restrictions’: Controversial Scientology Leader David Miscavige To Be Questioned In Harassment Lawsuit, As Lawyers Consider Calling His ‘Missing’ Wife For Deposition
Dec. 13 2013, Published 4:31 p.m. ET
Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige will be deposed at the order of a Texas judge regarding the harassment lawsuit filed against the organization by a former church exec's wife, Monique Rathbun, Breaking Celebrity News is reporting.
Rathbun's attorney, Ray Jeffrey, first confirmed that the deposition will happen to the Scientology watchdog site The Underground Bunker and said the church's attorneys requested the deposition be written instead of verbal, but Judge Dib Waldrip did not grant that motion.
"He has ordered the deposition of Miscavige with no restrictions. It will be a regular deposition like any other," Jeffrey told the site.
At the end of Friday's session, Scientology attorneys asked to have an undisclosed amount of time to petition the deposition order, but Judge Waldrip gave them one week — giving them until Dec. 20 at 5 p.m.
In terms of scheduling Miscavige's deposition, Rathbun's attorneys have their work cut out for them.
According to the leader's schedule through March 31, 2014, he's booked.
"Judge Waldrip seemed unimpressed with it," Jeffrey told the Bunker. "There’s no time that they’re not going to claim that he’s super busy."
Although attorneys for the controversial church argued that a deposition violated Miscavige's religious freedom, Jeffrey successfully argued that during recent scandals with the Catholic Church, bishops and archbishops had given depositions without it violating their religious freedom.