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| Ford Greene | |
|---|---|
 Aylsworth Crawford Greene III |
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| Born | December 21, 1952
United States  |
| Occupation | Attorney, Specialty: Cult litigation |
Aylsworth Crawford Greene III (born December 21, 1952) is an American attorney from San Anselmo, California, noted for having successfully conducted litigation against alleged cults, and in 2009, against an unconstitutional Marin County election.[1]
Greene is an elected San Anselmo Town Councilman. On December 8, 2009 he was voted by the council to the position of Vice-Mayor.
Ford Greene began studying law at the New College of California Law School in 1978. He was admitted to The State Bar of California in 1983 and has been a practicing attorney in the state for over 25 years.[2]
He joined the Unification Church in late 1974 in an attempt to convince his sister Catherine to renounce her membership in the organization. Unable to do so, Greene walked out in July 1975.[3] For a number of months after his departure he was subject to disrupted sleep, fearing judgement as a "Judas", and Greene has in fact been referred to by the Unification Church as the "Servant of Satan".[4]
From 1976 to 1978, he deprogrammed about 130[5] members of the Unification Church (or "Moonies"), including the Prince of Tahiti. He failed to deprogram his own sister, who is still in the organization.
The "deprogrammer" character in the film Ticket to Heaven was based on his work.[6]
In Molko v. Holy Spirit Assn.,[7] Greene represented two former members of the Unification Church, David Molko and Tracy Leal before the California Supreme Court. In 1988, the state high court held that religious organizations may be sued for fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress when they use deception to cause candidates for recruitment to unwittingly expose themselves to brainwashing techniques. The members of the Unification Church who recruited Molko had lied by denying any religious connection to their recruitment pitch, and then when he trusted them, brainwashing him. In a legal opinion written by Justice Stanley Mosk regarding tactics religious groups use to attract followers, the court found that any burden on the free exercise of religion was outweighed by the state's interest in protecting against "fraudulent induction of unconsenting individuals into an atmosphere of coercive persuasion" because many people exposed to brainwashing techniques without their knowledge or consent would "develop serious and sometimes irreversible physical and psychiatric disorders, up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide."
In State of Colorado v. Whelan and Brandyberry in 1980, Greene successfully used a "choice of evils" defense in a criminal prosecution of a "deprogrammer" against charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment.
In 1998, in Bertolucci v. Ananda Church of Self Realization, Greene won a $1.625 million jury verdict for fraud, coercion and sexual exploitation of a female devotee.[8]
Greene has represented a number of clients against Scientology.[9] In Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, he was part of a team (with Charles B. O’Reilly of Marina Del Rey, Daniel A. Leipold of Santa Ana, and Craig J. Stein of Los Angeles) that represented former Scientologist Lawrence A. Wollersheim and successfully sued for emotional distress. Wollersheim had been a member of the Church of Scientology for over a decade, leaving in 1979, and sued the church the following year. The court case was heard in 1986, and was a media sensation, even including attendance by actor and Scientology proponent John Travolta. Wollersheim had been a supervisor in Scientology's elite SeaOrg group, and his duties included recruiting celebrities to Scientology.[10] The case resulted in a $2.5 million judgement that grew into a $8.7 million payout due to accumulated interest after over 20 years of litigation.[11]
The multi-million dollar payout, made May 9, 2002, came minutes before a case was to begin which may have been damaging to Scientology by attempting to show how the church was compartmentalized into a collection of over 300 sub-organizations all under the command of Scientology Chairman of the Board David Miscavige, with the alleged purpose of avoiding financial culpability in the event of successful lawsuits. Quoted in New York City's 'Village Voice' newspaper in June 2008, Greene commented: "If it had been shown in court that the 350 organizations of the church of Scientology were all controlled by David Miscavige, it doesn’t look like a legitimate religion but the authoritative cult that it is. It would have been terrible public relations, and they still would have had to pay the money. And that’s why they paid the money when they did, to avoid the bad PR." [10]
Greene maintains a 'Scientology War Room' in his law offices which includes shelves of reference books and an organizational chart of the controversial church. In turn, Greene has been targeted by Scientology investigators. Ex-Scientologist Gary Scarff testified in a court case which was otherwise unrelated to Greene that he had spied on Greene and searched his offices; there are allegations that a private investigator for Scientology has been working on a dossier on him for years. Greene has been called a "pig", a "mosquito" and a "pathetic individual" by Scientology's San Francisco chapter leader Jeff Quiros.[8]
Some of Scientology's highest-ranking members have verbally attacked Greene in print interviews: Kurt Weiland, Director of external affairs for the Church of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs, Scientology's vice president of communications and a member of the organization's Board of Directors has stated "We don't react kindly to attempts to extort money from the church, especially if it's done through lies and allegations by people like Ford Greene." [12] Kendrick Moxon, Scientology's lead counsel who admits to gathering information on Greene as part of what he termed a "simple, standard check", said of Greene "You find out the guy's got a criminal record. He's a criminal. It helps to explain the motivation of these outrageous falsehoods that he's given the court." (Moxon was named as an undicted co-conspirator in a criminal operation by Scientology agents which was termed "Operation Snow White.") [12]
Greene also successfully repesented client Raul Lopez against the church; Lopez had suffered partial brain damage in an auto accident and turned to Scientology, subsequently donating or 'investing' most of his 1.7 million dollar accident settlement money to the church. Greene's assessment of the case: "With Raul, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.... In a sense, [the Scientologists] passed him around the way the Hell's Angels might pass around a teenage girl."[13]
For much of the past decade, Greene has been in a controversy about a changeable 'Freedom' sign with political messages on the side of his San Anselmo law office, facing eastbound traffic on busy Sir Francis Drake Blvd. During the presidency of George W. Bush, Greene was outspoken regarding Bush's policies, one example being Greene's recommendation for his readers to "defy evil Bushism".[4]
An earlier sign Greene posted read "Expose psycho politics' lies- Stop thugs from looting us- And funding Halliburton- Demand a competent press- Tell Europe no Hitler here- Burn the Bush House- Speak up and vote.[14]
After San Anselmo police pulled down his sign in 2003, Greene sued the city. After a new sign ordinance was passed limiting the size of signs to 6 square feet, Greene put up 16 small signs together to form a large one. A court declined to stop this, deciding that the town could only limit the size, not the number of signs. Greene settled the dispute in Oct. 2005 by agreeing to use only half the space for messages, and was reimbursed by the town for nearly a thousand dollars in expenses.
"This settlement is my Christmas gift to the town of San Anselmo," Greene was quoted as saying after the settlement. "I'm happy to disprove the adage you can't fight City Hall, but it sure helps to be an attorney.
"Unfortunately, ordinary citizens lack such advantage upon which town authorities seem to count in the way they respond to - and often ignore - citizens' concerns and complaints."
In November 2005, Greene ran for a seat on the San Anselmo Town Council against Ian Roth, but came 300 votes short of being elected.
But after less than a year in office, Roth resigned in September, 2006.[16] Greene, supported by the two other candidates who had unsuccessfully run in the 2005 election, interviewed to be appointed to the Council seat he had nearly won. He was a harsh critic of a fellow post-seeker, former Ross Hospital CEO Judy House, stating House had a major role in the closure of the hospital.
After being rebuked by the seated Council members, who selected House in a 4-0 vote, Greene criticized the council for their selection, saying they had pre-selected House over him.
"It was a done deal," he said. "I'm not going anywhere. There's an election in a year."[17]
Indeed, Greene was elected by town citizens to the San Anselmo Town Council in November 2007. "There was a compost pile that needed to be turned," Greene said when the election results became known. "The government in this town was so embedded, so self-absorbed, that a substantial number of the population didn't like it. That was the issue."[18]
On November 3, 2009, San Anselmo voters elected three new councilmembers. Voters declined to return Judy House and two other incumbents to their council seats.
Greene had in the meantime filed a lawsuit in August, 2007 to challenge the results of a controversial election two months previously in Marin County's Ross Valley, which passed a homeowner parcel flood fee (Greene preferred the term 'tax') which won by the bare margin of 65 votes. Funding a manual count of rejected ballots, Greene proved the measure would have instead lost by 147 votes had not 21% of the election's ballots been disqualified for nonconformance with the unusual requirement that the ballots be signed.
"Flood control doesn't justify the subversion of people's votes," Greene stated shortly after starting the litigation in Marin County Superior Court. "I'd like them [ the Marin County Board of Supervisors ] to throw it out and then do it properly." [19]
Greene further stated in September 2007 that he embarked on the court case because in his “hierarchy of values the democratic process trumps any end, no matter how valuable people say it is. In a number of ways, the democratic process was corrupted in order to enact the storm drainage measure."[20]
In October, 2007, Superior Court Judge Lynn Duryee rejected Greene's challenge to the requirement that the ballots be signed, stating the election "fully complied with the applicable law."[21]
Lawyers defending the election were in agreement. "This was a property fee election, used up and down the state of California, in which the participants were not registered voters but the owners of parcels affected by the election," said attorney Sheila Lichtblau, representing the Marin County government.
A few days later Greene appealed Judge Duryee's decision to the California State Court system.[22]
Greene stated publicly that he sought a larger venue for a court decision. "This was a local election that was conducted by a local agency, and now its results have been confirmed by a local judge," Greene said. "Now the case can be scrutinized and reviewed by powers that are not embedded in Marin County."
Greene's efforts were derided by his detractors. "It's his right to do it, but it's our hope that upon reflection he'll recognize that he can't succeed," said Tom McInerney, a lawyer (at that time) with Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP, a San Francisco law firm. "We think he's only doing this to gain publicity for his Town Council race, and we hope that once the election is over he'll find something else to do." Greene denied McInerney's allegation,[22] (and as noted previously, won election to a seat on the San Anselmo Town Council in November 2007 with McInerney joining him as an elected Councilman in November, 2009.)
On March 11, 2009 the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Five, ruled unanimously that the 2007 Ross Valley flood fee election was illegal as a violation of the state California Constitution, and ordered Judge Duryee to annul the vote.[1]
Quoted by the Marin Independent Journal Councilman Greene, reportedly "jubilant", said the published ruling was "a ringing vindication of the California constitution's bedrock principle that secret voting shall be honored, protected, and used in our self government."
Further quoting Greene, the newspaper said he added that "This is a victory for voting without anyone looking over your shoulder and a victory for protecting the voter's right to vote how he wants and be free from manipulation or retribution. The boogeyman of flooding no more trumps voting integrity than the boogeyman of terrorism should subjugate our legacy of putting the liberty of the individual first."
However, Marin County Supervisor Harold Brown disagreed with the court's decision, and said he would ask for the County to appeal the ruling to the California Supreme Court.
When informed of Supervisor Brown's statement, Greene was still further quoted in the Independent Journal, commenting "Repeating the same mistake over and over will not help get it right." [23]
On March 17, 2009, Brown changed tactics, claiming an appeal to the state Supreme Court "could take four or five years." Instead, Marin's Board of Supervisors decided in closed session to ask the Court Of Appeal for a rehearing, in order to argue that the signed ballots were in fact secret. Councilman Greene gave the effort little chance of success, stating the effort "was not going to go anywhere."
Supervisor Brown also stated he would ask the Marin County Board of Supervisors for a new vote on the flood issue, but no further details on how this new vote would be held were disclosed.[24]
On April 7, 2009, the California Court of Appeal rejected the Marin County request for a rehearing of the March 11 ruling. In spite of Supervisor Brown's previous statement, the Marin Board of Supervisors announced the next day that it would in fact appeal the case to the California Supreme Court.
In response, Greene was emphatic as he predicted that the court would refuse to hear the case at all, saying "The Supreme Court effort is a petition to nowhere," He added "It appears there is no way the Board of Supervisors is going to take its head out of a very dark place." [25]
On June 24, 2009, however, the California Supreme Court granted review. Marin County deputy county counsel Lichtblau stated "We're extremely pleased that the [California] Supreme Court decided to look at it. In our view, it's an indication that they believe the Court of Appeals decision may be troubling."
Greene would not speculate what motivated the review, but stated that he thought a final decision by California's highest court would take at least two years, and noted "Obviously, the journey to vindicate the right to vote in secret just got substantially longer." [26]
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   | Ford Greene: attorney at odds - Ford Greene: Attorney at odds |
| | State Bar of California about license status - State Bar of CA :: Aylsworth Crawford Greene, III |
| | Ford Greene page by Gerald Armstrong - Gerry Armstrong--Ford Greene, Esq. |
| | Ford Greene profile at ICSA - < Greene, Ford, Esq. - profile |
| | Trial Lawyer of the Year award - 404: Page Not Found - Public Justice |
| | Sparks fly as town picks new council member - Sparks fly as town picks new council member - Marin Independent Journal |
| | Litigating Child Custody with Religious Cults - Greene, Ford, Esq.: "Litigating Child Custody with Religious Cults" |
| | Ex-Scientologist Collects $8.7 Million In 22-Year-Old Case - Error - washingtonpost.com |
| | Sign of the Cult-Buster - San Francisco Stories |
| | Cult Busters - Fehler | ARD-Radioprogramm |
| | Ex-Scientologist Collects $8.7 Million In 22-Year-Old Case - Ex-Scientologist Collects $8.7 Million In 22-Year-Old Case (washingtonpost.com) |
| | Sign of the Cult-Buster - San Francisco News - Sign of the Cult-Buster - page 1 |
| | Greene, Thornton win San Anselmo race - Greene, Thornton win San Anselmo race - Marin Independent Journal |
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