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1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION LUIS A. GARCIA SAZ and Wife, MARIA DEL ROCIO BURGOS GARCIA, Plaintiffs, vs. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG SERVICE ORGANIZATION, INC., and CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG SHIP SERVICE ORGANIZATION, INC., Defendants. __ / CASE NO: 8:13-CV-220-T27 TBM

PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION

REQUESTING EVIDENTIARY HEARING ON AMENDED MOTION TO VACATE ARBITRATION AWARDS

The Plaintiffs, LUIS A. GARCIA SAZ and MARIA DEL ROCIO BURGOS GARCIA, file this Motion Requesting an Evidentiary Hearing on their Amended Motion to Vacate the Arbitration Awards and Incorporated Memorandum of Law filed on January 23, 2018 (DE 272). An evidentiary hearing is required to resolve the disputed factual issues. 1. In their motion to vacate the arbitration, Plaintiffs argued that an evidentiary hearing is required to resolve the fact-intensive issues raised in the Amended Motion to Vacate the Arbitration Awards (DE 272 at 20-21). 2. Plaintiffs supported their motion with the affidavit of Luis Garcia, averring that the Church prevented the Plaintiffs from presenting evidence supporting their claims of fraud, breach of contract and violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (DE 272-3). The arbitration panel acted with evident partiality and engaged in misconduct (

Id.

). The motion, affidavit, and exhibits, provide a sufficient factual basis to vacate the arbitration award. 3.

In response to the Plaintiffs’ Amended Motion to Vacate Arbitration Awards,

the

Case 8:13-cv-00220-JDW-TBM Document 277 Filed 02/28/18 Page 1 of 3 PageID 4943

2 Church submitted the declaration of Mike Ellis, the International Justice Chief

(“IJC”) (DE 275

; DE 276-1). The IJC has a very different account of what happened at the arbitration. The Church also submitted the declaration of its attorney, Gary Soter, who claims to have been present, but

“did not participate in or attend”

the arbitration (DE 276-10 at 1; see DE 275 at 11). 5. In addition, the Church includes an exhibit, A(3), that the Plaintiffs have never seen before

titled, “Religious Arbitration Instructions” (DE 275

-4 at 1-2; DE 276-4 at 1-2). The Church claims that this exhibits shows the IJC instructed the arbitration panel to be fair and impartial (DE 275 at 11-12 & DE 275-1 at 2).

To the contrary, Luis Garcia’s affidavit provides evidence that

the IJC did not allow the Plaintiffs to be present when he

“hatted

,

”

or trained, the arbitration panel by giving them extensive documents and policies to review (DE 272 at 6, 8, 10, 21). The only

instruction the IJC gave the arbitrators in the Plaintiffs’ presence was that the only issue for the

panel was whether the Plaintiffs filled out a CVB form to request a refund (DE 272-3 at 11). 6. An evidentiary hearing is required to resolve these disputed factual issues.

Univ. Commons-Urbana, Ltd. v. Universal Constructors, Inc.

, 304 F.3d 1331, 1340-41 & 1345 (11th Cir. 2002) (recognizing these questions are fact-intensive and require an evidentiary hearing upon

a showing of a “mere appearance of bias or partiality”

). Theodore Babbitt, counsel for the Plaintiffs, certifies that he has conferred with opposing counsel, F. Wallace Pope, Jr., and the parties cannot agree on the resolution of this motion. DATED: This 28th day of February, 2018. By: /s/ Theodore Babbitt Theodore Babbitt Fla. Bar No: 091146 Babbitt & Johnson, P.A. P. O. Box 4426 West Palm Beach, FL 33402-4426 T: (561) 684-2500; F: 561-684-6308 tedbabbitt@babbitt-johnson.com


3

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that, on February 28, 2018, we electronically filed the foregoing document with the Clerk of the Court using CM/ECF. We also certify that the foregoing document is being served this day on all counsel or pro se parties identified below in the manner specified, either via transmission of Notices of Electronic Filing generated by CM/ECF or in some other authorized manner for those counsel or parties who are not authorized to receive electronically Notices of Electronic Filings. F. Wallace Pope, Jr., Esq. FBN: 124449 Robert Vernon Potter, Esq. FBN: 363006 Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns, LLP 911 Chestnut Street Clearwater, FL 33757 Phone: (727) 461-1818; Fax: (727) 462-0365 E-mail: wallyp@ipfirm.com bobp@jpfirm.com Counsel for Flag Church & Ship Church Eric M. Lieberman NYBN: 105543 Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Liberman, P.C. 45 Broadway, Suite 1700 New York, NY 10006 Phone: (212) 254-1111; Fax: (212) 674-4614 E-mail: elieberman@rbskl.com Counsel for Flag Church & Ship Church Jane Kreusler-Walsh Fla. Bar No: 272371 Rebecca Mercier Vargas Fla. Bar No: 0150037 Kreusler-Walsh, Vargas & Serafin, P.A. 501 South Flagler Drive, Suite 503 West Palm Beach, FL 33401-5913 T: (561) 659-5455; F: (561) 820-8762 E-mail: janewalsh@kwvsappeals.com rvargas@kwvsappeals.com Counsel for Plaintiffs Ronald Weil Fla. Bar No: 169966 Weil Law Firm, P.A. Southwest Financial Center, Suite 900 200 South Biscayne Blvd. Miami, FL 33131 T: (305) 372-5352; F: (305) 372-5355 E-mail: rweil@weillawfirm.net Counsel for Plaintiffs By: /s/ Theodore Babbitt Theodore Babbitt Fla. Bar No: 091146
