Illinois high court brings back CAN/Scientology lawsuit
September 18, 1997

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A lawsuit against the Church of Scientology was improperly dismissed and should be resurrected, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled. At stake was a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the Cult Awareness Network against the Church of Scientology International and Church of Scientology in Illinois, which had filed 21 lawsuits in Illinois, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Washington, D.C. against the network during 1992 and 1993. The network's lawsuit contended the Church of Scientology lawsuits were ``a conspiracy to maliciously prosecute'' the network for its efforts in investigating the church. A Cook County judge was not impressed, and dismissed the network's lawsuit in 1995 before it could go to trial. The Illinois Supreme Court disagreed, reinstating the lawsuit in an opinion written by Chief Justice Charles Freeman. The court cited the fact that many of the Church of Scientology's lawsuits were settled out of court or dismissed by lower court judges, with none going to trial, as a sign they were not legitimate. Freeman also wrote the fact that 21 lawsuits were filed in a 17-month time period was evidence enough to allege the idea they were filed with the intent of injuring the Cult Awareness Network. ``Such a sustained onslaught of litigation can hardly be deemed ordinary if (the network) can prove that the actions were brought without probable cause and with malice,'' Freeman wrote.