Professor Michael Helfand Quoted in "Scientology Accusers Ask Court for Trial, Not a Religious Arbitration" -- Los Angeles Times

Professor Michael A. Helfand is quoted in the Los Angeles Times article, "Scientology Accusers Ask Court for a Trial, Not a Religious Arbitration." The article considers a case before the California 2nd District Court of Appeal regarding whether a harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology should be decided by a jury or an arbitration board of Scientologists.

Excerpt from "Scientology Accusers Ask Court for a Trial, Not a Religious Arbitration"

Religious arbitration is most common in the United States among Orthodox Jews, who may allow religious arbitrators to decide issues as diverse as divorce and commerce.

Michael A. Helfand, an expert on religious arbitration, said after Tuesday's hearing that the court appeared inclined to allow the case to go to religious arbitration.

"I think the court has an intuition that something is awry with this arbitration," he said. But the attorneys in the case "did not provide the court with an adequate way to differentiate this form of arbitration with other forms of permissible arbitration."

Helfand, a professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, said he believes the Scientology arbitration agreement is flawed because it says the arbitrators must be "in good standing" with the church, a vague description that a court would be unable to define.

The complete article may be found at Los Angeles Times