While anticipating Scientologist Attorney Kendrick L. Moxon's next trial loss (at the California Court of Appeals hearing Sept 21st, re: Gerry Armstrong), it is helpful to revisit news accounts of his most recent trial loss, in the Santa Barbara Superior Court.

Kendrick Moxon, aka Ken Moxon, filed this case and got no money for his client, despite claimed tragic losses. Moxon did later win a small concession, in that the hospital had to revise its informed consent procedure, but not the million-dollars-plus he was seeking.

It is argued, that Attorney Kendrick Moxon of the law firm of Moxon & Kobrin of Los Angeles deserves your disrespect, because:

1) He was named an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the late 1970's "Snow White"Case, where top Scientologists (including the wife of L. Ron Hubbard) went to prison for burglary and theft of US Government records.

2) The former clients of Kendrick Moxon have stated they were "used" as "pawns", while he was actually targeting the perceived "enemies" of the weird space-alien cult he works for, known as the "Church" of Scientology. It has been stated that Kendrick just lies to people, to get them to cooperate in his lawsuits against such Scientology targets as psychiatric clinics, ex-members who speak out, and the watchdog group the Cult Awareness Network .

Kendrick Moxon also had used "dirty tricks," like post-dating legal services and filings, and filing a "motion in limine" routinely to prevent the discussion of Scientology in his cases (smart attorneys defeat this, using arguments that it prevents the defendant from fully pleading his case).

3) IMO, Kendrick Moxon is a total wuss (= wimp + p-ssy).

Not only did his employer MURDER Kendrick's 20-year-old daughter, Stacey Meyer Moxon on the Scientology premises "Gold Base" in Gilman Hot Springs in 2000 (by high-voltage electrocution, in a transformer vault which had a door too heavy for the 100 lb. Stacey to open by herself), but Kendrick not only didn't stand up to the cult to force an investigation (as he asks juries to do), but Kendrick still represents them!

What kind of a father, even a short one like the five-foot-six Moxon, allows himself to be so brainwashed, that he doesn't protect his own daughter?

So, enjoy the coverage.

"Shock Therapy Case Wrapping Up" Closing Arguments Resume Today Santa Barbara News Press Thursday June 3, 2004 by Dawn Hobbs

Jurors will soon decide whether the shock treatment a man received at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital permanently wiped out his long-term memory and whether he was adequately informed about its possible side effects.

On Wednesday, jurors heard partial closing arguments from attorneys on both sides of the civil suit, capping a five-week trial that pits Atzke Akkerman and his family against Dr. Joseph Johnson and the hospital.

The case highlights the resurgence of shock therapy as a treatment for severe depression and other mental disorders. A central issue in the case is whether Dr. Johnson properly followed strict state procedures in advising Mr. Akkerman about the risks and whether he obtained proper consent for the series of treatments performed in December 1999.

Mr. Akkerman, 49, and his wife of 20 years, Elizabeth, contend Dr. Johnson told them about potential short-term memory loss but not about the possibility of permanent long-term loss. Two years after the shock therapy, when Mr. Akkerman claimed he still could not recognize his family, he and his wife filed the lawsuit against Dr. Johnson and Cottage Hospital.

Dr. Johnson's attorney, Patricia Ramsey, contends the psychiatrist did nothing wrong and used a form that was even more detailed than the state's required form.

She told jurors that testimony from defense experts indicated Mr. Akkerman's amnesia was not due to the shock treatment but to his ongoing depression.

Mr. Akkerman's attorney, Kendrick Moxon, told jurors Wednesday: "(Mr. Akkerman) needed help. Dr. Johnson said he would give him help, and even cure him, but he was instead utterly betrayed...Before the shocks, he had a life, he had family, he had his music, religion, and friends. Afterward, he had nothing...His life was essentially destroyed."

He said Mr. Akkerman had been "severely and Permanently impaired."

Mr. Moxon claimed Dr. Johnson not only failed to use the state-mandated consent form, but the form he did use was not given to Mr. Akkerman until after his first shock treatment.

In court on Wednesday, Mr. Akkerman and his family fought back tears as Mr. Moxon recalled a "tearful meeting" he had with his wife in 2001 when he said, "I don't know you. I don't know my children, It's not coming back." Shortly after, Mrs. Akkerman told him she could not continue this way and the marriage had to end. Ms. Ransey told jurors: "You have to make a decision without sympathy and compassion. You have to use your cold logic...We expect you to use your common sense."

Ms. Ramsey said that common sense would tell jurors that Dr. Johnson would not depart from the practice of consent that he has used for decades to perform the legal procedure. She alleged inconsistencies in Mrs. Akkerman's recollection of the discussions she had with Dr. Johnson.

Ms. Ramsey also pointed to Mr. Akkerman's depression as the cause for the amnesia: "He was trying to push away his past, the work, he financial problems, the self-blame, the problems with his family...He was trying to build a new life and get away from everything and everyone that made him depressed."

Attorneys for another defendant, Dr. Clinton La Grange, and for Cottage Hospital finish closing arguments before Superior Court Judge Denise deBellefeuille today. Jurors will then likely begin deliberations on Monday.

(Story #2 -- The Next Week)

"Jury Says Shock Treatment Didn't Cause Memory Loss" Panel rules doctor, hospital negligent Santa Barbara News Press Thursday, June 10, 2004 by Dawn Hobbs

A jury decided Wednesday that Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and a doctor negligently obtained a patient's consent before he underwent shock therapy but determined that the treatment did not cause the man's severe memory loss.

The jury awarded no money to Atze Akkerman, who had sued the hospital and Dr. Joseph Johnson, claiming the electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, he received in 1999 caused memory problems so severe that he no longer recognizes his family.

The verdict capped a five week trial that highlighted the quiet comeback of shock therapy for severe depression and other mental disorders, partly because of improved equipment and a better understanding of the procedure.

After 3 1/2 days of deliberation, jurors unanimously found that the doctor and the hospital were negligent because the state-mandated form was not used.

Also, the required independent review of the consent was conducted by a doctor who was not certified to do so.

"While that may have been illegal, those acts of negligence could not be found to have contributed to any harm that was claimed by the plaintiff in this case," said juror Matt Dobberteen.

Kendrick Moxon, Mr. Akkerman's attorney, also claimed that Dr. Johnson intentionally failed to tell the 49-year-old man about he possible long-term memory loss from the ECT treatment.

Jurors voted 10 to 2 in favor of the psychiatrist on this issue.

"None of (the jurors) thought his condition was due to ECT," Dr. Johnson's attorney, Patricia Ramsey, said.

"He suffered from something that was long-range even before this," said juror Lester Ford. Other jurors declined comment.

Dr. Johnson did not respond to a request for comment.

Thomas McAndrews, attorney for Cottage Hospital, said after the verdict that the consent forms "were all corrected as soon as it came to light, about one to one and a half years ago."

He also conceeded that it was the hospital's responsibility to make sure the doctor who conducted the independent review had the proper qualifications.

"The jury made the right findings for the right reasons," Mr. McAndrews said.

The panel unanimously rejected Mr. Moxon's allegation that anaesthesia Dr. Clinton LaGrange was negligent during the first treatment, when Mr. Akkerman's heart rate dropped considerably.

"The jury did the right thing," said Mark Connely, Dr. LaGrange's attorney. But he added that his client "didn't deserve to be in this case."

The lawsuit claimed that two years after Mr. Akkerman was treated with ECT in December 1999, he still could not recognize his wife of 20 years, Elizabeth, their children or his own parents.

Mr. Akkerman was not present when the jury read the verdict.

Mrs. Akkerman declined comment.

However, Mr. Moxon insisted: "ECT is a barbaric and harmful treatment. ECT is what did this to him."

A hospital official previously told the News-Press he thought the lawsuit was an attempt by the Church of Scientology, which is opposed to shock therapy, to shut down the treatment center at Cottage.

Mr. Moxon has represented clients from that organization but denied any connection to this case.

''Scientology "did not play any role in the litigation of the trial in this case," Mr. McAndrews said Wednesday.

Both the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association approve of electroshock therapy in extreme cases. In California, it is offered at 81 hospitals in 17 counties.

Mr. Akkerman, who lived in Camarillo at the time he underwent treatment, was one of about 3,000 patients per year who receive ECT in California.

Of those, more than 350 go to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, the only facility in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties to offer it, according to the state Department of Mental Health.

ECT dates to 1938, when doctors discovered inducing a seizure could sometimes lift severe depression.

In those days, the patient was conscious during often painful treatments, which frequently resulted in fractured bones, bitten tongues, and broken teeth.

ECT was cast in a harsher light in 1975 with the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which painted a brutal picture of shock therapy.

Now doctors use anaesthesia and muscle relaxants to prevent the injuries that were common before, and the treatment is typically an outpatient procedure.

Attempts to outlaw shock therapy in the United States -- as it has been in several European countries -- have resulted in tight restrictions that call for its use as a last resort, and in strict warning and consent policies.

Send your condolences to:

Kendrick Moxon
1824 Verdugo Vista Drive
Glendale, CA. 91208-2815
(818) 5xx-xxx3
(818) 5xx-xxx2

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