May 11, 2002

Scientology Church Pays $8.7M Penalty http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/may/11/051103958.html

Scientology Church Pays $8.7M Penalty LOS ANGELES- The Church of Scientology has agreed to pay a former member more than $8.6 million to resolve a lawsuit filed nearly 22 years ago.

In his 1980 lawsuit, Lawrence Wollersheim accused the church of causing him to develop bipolar disorder and to contemplate suicide. A jury in 1986 awarded him $30 million, an amount reduced on appeal to $2.5 million and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1994.

The court award collected 10 percent interest over the years and eventually grew to $8,674,843, which church officials handed over in a check Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Church officials said they wanted to put the matter behind them.

"This lawsuit was over 20 years old and concerned events from 30 years ago," Neil Levin, president of the Church of Scientology of California, said in a statement.

Wollersheim, who lives in Nevada, joined the church in 1969.

"Everything hasn't had a chance to set in, except that this is a great victory for social justice," he said by phone Friday.

According to his lawsuit, at one point he was held on a ship for 18 hours a day, deprived of food and sleep. He said it was a mind control tactic that caused him to develop bipolar disorder.

"The counseling techniques are designed to either break you or make you a slave," said Wollersheim, 53. "I was on the edge of insanity."

The two sides disagreed over why it took so long to settle the case. Wollersheim accused the church of using stalling tactics.

"From what I understand, Wollersheim didn't make any effort to collect the judgment," church attorney William Drescher told The Washington Post.

---- "At least my insults are backed up by instances of bad behavior."

Deana M. Holmes

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