Gerry Armstrong (activist)

Gerry Armstrong
Gerry Armstrong, November 8, 2008
Born	United States
Occupation(s)	Activist, Former Scientologist

Gerald Armstrong is a former member of the Church of Scientology who is now one of the most active critics of the Church. In 1980, the Church assigned Armstrong, then a member of the Church's elite Sea Org, to organize some personal papers of L. Ron Hubbard that were to serve as the basis of a new biography of Hubbard. A non-Scientologist, Omar Garrison, had been hired to write the book. As part of his assignment, Armstrong also requested Hubbard's war records from the Navy and his transcripts from George Washington University.

While reviewing these documents, both Armstrong and Garrison came to realize that many of the claims Hubbard made about himself were completely at odds with all other evidence: Hubbard had not graduated from George Washington as a "nuclear physicist," but attended only for two years, failed the only class in physics he took there, and left without graduating. Hubbard's Navy record showed no promotion to Commander of Corvettes in the North Pacific, but only to Lieutenant.

When Armstrong gave the Church a written report on the results of his work, they responded by expelling him from the Church and declaring him a Suppressive Person. By his own account, Armstrong feared that he and his wife would be targets of Scientology's Fair Game policy, and would face not only harassing lawsuits but physical harm. He placed copies of the documents that he had been given to organize in the custody of his attorney, in order to protect himself from the possibility that the Church would destroy the biographical documents (many of which had, ironically, been uncovered in the course of a document-destruction operation) and then take legal action alleging that Armstrong's description of the documents' contents was maliciously false. He also went public with his story to minimize the risk that Scientology operatives would try to do him physical harm.

Armstrong's transfer of the Hubbard-related documents to his attorney prompted a lawsuit, Church of Scientology of California vs. Gerald Armstrong. The decision in the case, by Judge Paul Breckenridge, found that Armstrong's fears of persecution by the Church were reasonable, and thus his conduct in turning over the documents in his possession to his attorneys was also reasonable:

... the court is satisfied the invasion was slight, and the reasons and justification for the defendant's conduct manifest. Defendant was told by Scientology to get an attorney. He was declared an enemy by the Church. He believed, reasonably, that he was subject to "fair game." The only way he could defend himself, his integrity, and his wife was to take that which was available to him and place it in a safe harbor, to wit, his lawyer's custody. (Judge Paul Breckenridge, Los Angeles Superior Court, June 20, 1984)

This 1984 judgment that Armstrong's transfer of documents of the Church of Scientology International (CSI) to his attorney was justified was affirmed seven years later in Church of Scientology v. Gerald Armstrong.

In December 1986, the parties entered into a settlement agreement under which CSI paid Armstrong, a former Church member, $800,000 in exchange for his dismissal of claims against CSI. Armstrong agreed to not publish orally or in writing any information about his experience with CSI, and that he would be liable for $50,000 for each breach of confidentiality. On October 17, 1995, a California court concluded that Armstrong had breached the agreement and awarded CSI $321,932 in damages and $334,671.75 in court costs. The court also enjoined Armstrong from assisting others with lawsuits against CSI. Armstrong never paid this debt and apparently continued to assist others in litigation against CSI.

Armstrong apparently continued to assist people with lawsuits against CSI and posting information about CSI on the Internet because on three occasions - June 1997; February 1998; and December 2000 - courts found Armstrong in contempt of its previous order and in violation of his settlement agreement. These violations resulted in $3,600 in fines and an order that he be confined in jail for 26 days. However, Armstrong claimed to be living in British Columbia, Canada, never showed up for court, and was never confined.

On April 2, 2002, CSI sued Armstrong for $10,050,000 for breaches of his settlement agreement. Armstrong admitted that he had breached the agreement more than 200 times, but claimed that parts of the agreement were illegal, unconstitutional and unenforceable. At trial on April 9, 2004, the court found that 131 breaches of the agreement did occur, but found that it would be unconscionable to “punish” Armstrong with liquidated damages in excess of the $800,000 he received as a benefit under the settlement agreement. Noting that Armstrong had previously been “sanctioned” in the sum of $300,000, the court entered judgment for CSI in the amount of $500,000.

See also

• Church of Scientology v. Gerald Armstrong
• Scientology controversies

Further reading

• "Mystery of the Vanished Ruler". TIME. 1983-01-31. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
• Koff, Stephen (1998-12-22). "Scientology church faces new claims of harassment". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
• Livesey, Bruce (June 23, 2008). "Scientology's Holy War: Bruce Livesey Investigates How Former Inner-Sanctum Member Gerry Armstrong Became the Salman Rushdie of Scientology". Maisonneuve Magazine.
• Ortega, Tony (June 24, 2008). "The Would-Be Hubbard Biographer". Runnin' Scared. The Village Voice. Retrieved 2008-06-24.

External links

• Gerry Armstrong's web site, including archives related to his ongoing legal conflicts with the Church of Scientology
• Memorandum of Intended Decision in Church of Scientology of California vs. Gerald Armstrong (PDF format) (Transcription)