@Gerry: I read the contract, and at first I thought it must have to do with protecting a then ongoing lawsuit. But there are disturbing terms in there, like “shall remain confidential forever.” Forever?
I also find troubling that the expert would have to agree beforehand that a breach “will cause irreparable damage” and yet further state that “damages may be difficult to ascertain.”
The most troubling part though is that “injunctive relief” may be entered against the expert’s “employees, family members and/or business” along with a minimum of $2.5M fine… WTF!?
I can see why would anyone balk at signing this, Caroline sure did the right thing.
This boggles me. Is this standard contract for expert witnesses?
I have testified as an expert witness in several Scientology-related lawsuits, and I never was requested to sign such a document.
Before Caroline flew to Florida, when Ken Dandar spoke with her about her future freedom to communicate if hired as an expert, he told her that she would be free to talk to me. When she arrived in his office, however, with Ms. Greenway, Lirot and Dandar there, she was told that the “agreement” would apply to talking to me. This was unacceptable for obvious reasons. She would not be able to tell me even if the people on the McPherson side lied to her or abused her in any way, which, it had already been observed, could happen. The “agreement” and its interpretation would create a situation between Caroline and me that Scientology would love and exploit.
See these a.r.s. threads from that period:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/browse_thread/thread/d7931f3080e4a31f/a1097a00c3189b78?hl=en&q=McPherson+caroline+group:alt.religion.scientology#a1097a00c3189b78
There is a bunch more attacks from that period by people ostensibly on the McPherson side.
When all this happened, we thought that this “agreement” sounded like it was related to protecting movie rights – The Lisa McPherson Story, not The Profit – and not protecting the interests of the Lisa McPherson Estate.
Edit: Here’s Bob’s April 24, 2002 statement about Caroline:
54. Subsequently I caused to be issued a check dated March 7, 2002, in the amount of $250,000 payable to Ken Dandar. Mr. Dandar called me on the 15th of March to tell me my check had not been received at his office. I told him I had sent it to his PO Box. I included the check with other papers so it wouldn’t be seen by his staff. I enclosed the check in an essay from Caroline Letkeman. (Caroline Letkeman had written this essay in an LMT essay contest and was paid a few thousand dollars as a prize by the LMT. In response to an inquiry from Mr. Dandar, I had advised him to use Ms. Letkeman as an expert witness.) I told Mr. Dandar that the check was inside that document, at page 23. Mr. Dandar, who was out of town, told me he sent Donna West to pick up the overnight mail pack and then Mr. Dandar called me to confirm it had been received. alt.religion.scientology