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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
VOL.2, N0.8
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LEGAL BATTLE
Mr. Rader's Deposition
FEBRUARY 22, 1980
On February 20th, Mr. Rader appeared at the Attorney General's office in
Los Angeles for his court-ordered deposition (question-and-answer session}.
He was accompanied by Church attorneys and representatives of the primary
defendant organizations named in the original lawsuit.
Various motions
and petitions had been previously filed seeking to prevent this deposition
from ever taking place, but because the order stood Mr. Rader did appear.
Nevertheless, the result was of no consequence because the four-hour
session dealt with questions posed by the Attorney General which Church
attorneys deemed in violation of constitutional protections granted the
Church and its members. The Attorney General may want to continue the
deposition, but that will have to wait until Mr. Rader returns from his
current trip on behalf of Mr. Armstrong and the Church, which began the
day after the deposition.
Document Grab Prevented by California Supreme Court
Judge Johnson of L.A. Superior Court had previously ruled concerning the
6,918 documents in the possession of Peat, Marwick and Mitchell. The judge
ordered that the documents, retained by them these many months since the
receivership was dissolved, should be turned over to the Attorney General
for inspection and copying. The impact of the order was effectively
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stayed
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(halted} through various legal motions until February 20, 198
o,
at which time the documents were delivered and opened in the Attorney
General's Office. However, only one document was pulled out of the four
teen boxes when, at the last possible moment, the California Supreme Court
announced an order directing that Judge Johnson's lower court order not
be obeyed until the California Supreme Court had had a chance to determine
if they want to hear an appeal from that order.
This was the first time the State's highest court had intervened on behalf
of the Church and is precisely the type of interim appellate relief that
the Church was hoping for in this urgent matter. There is no possible harm
to the Attorney General other than a slight delay (though he would like
the documents immediately) whereas if the stay had not been granted, the
very question the Church was seeking to raise (whether the Attorney General
should ever see the documents, much less possess them} would become mute
because the invasion of Church privacy had already occurred.
WORK'S GOALS AND CHALLENGES DISCUSSED AT EMPLOYEE FORUM
Bringing greetings from Mr. Armstrong in Tucson, Mr. Stanley Rader took
time February 19th to update the employees and students at Pasadena on
developments in the Work.