![]() ![]() These sentences read: "Synanon was founded in 1958 by Charles Dederich, a reformed alcoholic, to rehabilitate drug addicts. Dederich and two Synanon members were charged with conspiracy to murder Morantz, and were subsequently convicted and sentenced.ĭespite the numerous and serious charges stated in the article, plaintiffs' lawsuit singles out only three sentences as defamatory. In particular, the article discussed the case of Paul Morantz, an attorney who had filed several suits against Synanon and who was bitten by a rattlesnake placed in his mailbox. The Reader's Digest article went on to charge that Synanon had adopted a policy of intimidation, and cited examples: an assault on a former member when he returned to visit the Synanon facility in west Marin County, and a similar attack on another member who left Synanon when he refused Dederich's orders to have a vasectomy. It notes the transformation of Synanon into an "alternative life-style community," claiming to be a church, and describes the Mitchells' accusation that local officials had been lax in enforcing the law against Synanon. The article recounts the history of Synanon from its inception in 1958 as a program for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. The Mitchells reviewed a draft of the article and suggested corrections, some of which Reader's Digest adopted. Although Synanon has filed other suits attacking the articles in the Point Reyes Light, the present action relates only to the Reader's Digest article.ĭavid MacDonald based his article on the Mitchells' newspaper accounts, their subsequent book, The Light on Synanon, research papers on Synanon by Richard of she, professor of sociology at the University of California, and conversations with of she and the Mitchells. The article, entitled The Little Paper That Dared, describes how David and Cathy Mitchell, publishers of the Point Reyes Light, received the Pulitzer Prize for a series of reports and articles critical of Synanon. ![]() Plaintiffs allege that they were defamed in an article written by David MacDonald, an employee of Reader's Digest, and published in the July 1981 edition of Reader's Digest. Petitioners are codefendants in a suit for libel and related causes of action filed by the Synanon Church (Synanon) and Charles Dederich, its founder. Petitioners seek a writ of mandate to review a ruling of the Marin County Superior Court denying their motion for summary judgment. Egeland and David Otis Fuller, Jr., for Petitioners.īourdette, Benjamin & Weill, Philip C. J., expressing the unanimous view of the court.) THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MARIN COUNTY, Respondent SYNANON CHURCH et al., Real Parties in Interest ![]() READER'S DIGEST ASSOCIATION, INC., et al., Petitioners, v. ![]()
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