In re David Miscavige and Religious Technology CenterAppeal from 207th District Court of Comal County (opinion )
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TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN NO. 03-14-00091-CV In re David Miscavige and Religious Technology Center ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM COMAL COUNTY OPINION In this original proceeding, relators David Miscavige and Religious Technology Center seek a writ of mandamus from this Court directing the trial court (1) to vacate its order compelling Miscavige s deposition and (2) to conduct a hearing on Relators special-appearance motions. Relators assert that under the apex-deposition doctrine, real-party-in-interest Monique Rathbun has failed to establish that Miscavige s deposition is appropriate. We conditionally grant Relators mandamus petition in part and deny it in part. BACKGROUND This case concerns an alleged three-year harassment campaign against Monique and her husband Mark Rathbun by certain members and employees of the Church of Scientology.1 According to Monique s first amended petition, Mark is a former member of the Church who left the organization in 2004 because he could no longer abide Mr. Miscavige s alleged abuse of 1 To avoid confusion, we refer to the Rathbuns by their first names. We also refer to the Church of Scientology as the Church, but we will refer to the various organizations and corporate entities within the Church separately.
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