Estate of Brennan v. Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc.

832 F. Supp. 2d 1370, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140188, 2011 WL 6048687
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedDecember 6, 2011
DocketCase No. 8:09-cv-264-T-23EAJ
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 832 F. Supp. 2d 1370 (Estate of Brennan v. Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Brennan v. Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., 832 F. Supp. 2d 1370, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140188, 2011 WL 6048687 (M.D. Fla. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER

STEVEN D. MERRYDAY, District Judge.

In February, 2009, on behalf of Kyle Thomas Brennan, her deceased son, Victoria L. Britton sued (Docs. 1 and 215) the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc.; Gerald and Denise Gentile; and Thomas Brennan, Kyle’s father. On September 8, 2010, the defendants jointly moved (Doc. 118) for summary judgment. The plaintiff opposes (Docs. 143 and 170) the motion. On October 13, 2010, the parties orally argued (Doc. 175) the motion. On October 25, 2010, Scientology’s notice of appeal from an unrelated order deferred determination of the motion for summary judgment. Receipt in the district court of the circuit court of appeals’ mandate (Doc. 220) again presents for disposition this long-pending motion (the district court probably retained jurisdiction to dispose of the motion throughout the appeal, but deferring disposition avoided at least one among a lengthy, expensive, and strenuous series of quarrels in this action).

* * * * * *

The plaintiffs component of the pre-trial stipulation (Doc. 166, pp. 2-3) includes this precis by the plaintiff of the allegation of wrongful death:

Kyle Brennan, a 20 year old college sophomore, flew to Clearwater, Florida on February 8, 2007 to visit his father, [1372]*1372Thomas Brennan, before returning to his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kyle arrived with a bottle of anti-depression medication, Lexapro, prescribed by his psychiatrist, Stephen McNamara, M.D. Kyle had left his home in Charlottesville on November 27, 2006, and flew to Des Moines, Iowa to look for colleges, taking his community college classes online as he traveled. He traveled from Des Moines to San Diego, CA, where he visited his father’s two sisters, then flew to Hawaii upon the suggestion of his uncle. In Hawaii he was assaulted on February 5, 200[7], and then flew to Tampa on February 7 or 8, 200[7]. Before his arrival he had told his uncle, Gary Robinson, that he had been taking his Lexapro consistently since the assault on February 5 and would continue to do so until he returned home in Virginia. Upon his arrival in Clearwater at his father’s apartment, his father thought he was suicidal, slept most of the day, and should not be left alone. Thomas Brennan, a Scientologist, told his Scientology counselor, Denise Gentile, of his son being on psychotropic medication prescribed by a psychiatrist. Both psychiatry and the taking of psychotropic drugs are abhorrent to Scientologists. Following Scientology policy, Denise Gentile then told this to a Scientology Ethics Officer, who then gave written instructions to Thomas Brennan to remove his son from the apartment and “handle” his son per Scientology policy, even though Kyle was never a Scientologist. In compliance with the commands from the Scientology Ethics Officer, Thomas Brennan locked the prescription Lexapro in the trunk of his car and had his son pack his bags and strip his bed of linens. Thomas Brennan then told Kyle’s mother, Victoria Britton in Charlottesville, VA, that Kyle had to move out. Within 24 hours, Kyle Brennan was dead from a single shot of a 357 magnum handgun inside the father’s bedroom. Kyle Brennan’s psychiatrist, Dr. McNamara, has opined that the abrupt removal of the antidepressant coupled with Kyle’s knowledge that he could not gain access to this medication had a deleterious effect on Kyle Brennan which substantially precipitated his death, if it was a suicide.
Victoria Britton, as the Administrator of the estate now brings a wrongful death action against these defendants for the death of her son, Kyle Brennan, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

An evaluation of the pleadings and other papers in the record reveals that the plaintiff alleges in particular (1) that Kyle’s father and Gerald and Denise Gentile, each aware of Kyle’s condition and acting in concert and in disregard of Kyle’s safety, “assumed a common law duty of care for Kyle Brennan,” tortiously withdrew from him the medically necessary Lexapro, and proximately caused an abrupt escalation in the severity of his condition, which caused his suicide, and (2) that “one or more of the defendants,” despite knowledge of Kyle’s “mentally deteriorated state,” placed in Kyle’s father’s bedroom, or otherwise permitted Kyle access to, a loaded .357 magnum handgun, with which Kyle committed suicide. The plaintiff alleges a relation of principal and agent between Scientology, on the one hand, and Kyle’s father, Gerald Gentile, and Denise Gentile, on the other hand, and alleges that the tortious acts of the three that purportedly led to Kyle’s suicide were within the scope of the agency with, and perforce attributable to, the principal, Scientology.

After a detailed elaboration of the facts (with laudable attention to the inclusion of explicit and helpful record citations) the defendants identify five factual defects that the defendants believe fatally afflict [1373]*1373the plaintiffs single claim under the “Florida Wrongful Death Act,” Sections 768.16-26, Florida Statutes:

• Plaintiff has no evidence to show or suggest that Kyle was consuming the Lexapro on a consistent basis necessary to obtain a therapeutic benefit.
• Plaintiff has no evidence to show or suggest the Lexapro was removed without Kyle’s permission.
• Plaintiff has no evidence to show or suggest that any defendant encouraged or assisted Kyle in committing suicide.
• Plaintiff has no evidence to show or suggest that any defendant gave him access to a loaded gun.
• Plaintiff has no evidence to show or suggest that Kyle committed suicide for any reason other than his depression and paranoia.

(Doc. 118 at 13) A close and objective examination of the extensive record developed in this action confirms the soundness of the defendants’ attack on the plaintiffs claim. The plaintiffs claim of Scientology’s complicity in, and responsibility for, Kyle’s death remains a mere hypothesis that is without essential support based upon reasoned and direct inference from the available evidence. In particular and in a manner fatal to the plaintiffs claim, the available evidence leaves irreparable gaps in the plaintiffs proposed historical sequence and irreparable gaps in the causal relation between persons and events and their respective consequences.

In the approximately eighty days beginning on November 27, 2006, and preceding his suicide late on the night of February 16, 2007, Kyle suddenly, unexpectedly, and without parental approval departed his mother’s home in Charlottesville, Virginia, and traveled to Iowa, to California, to Hawaii, and finally to Clear-water, Florida, to the apartment in which his father lived. During this itinerant interlude between November and February, Kyle occasionally telephoned his mother, occasionally contacted family members, and briefly lived with an aunt in California. A review of Kyle’s written and oral statements and the recollections and observations of those to whom he spoke or -with whom he otherwise communicated confirms that he evinced distinct signs of emotional turbulence and distress and that he lodged against his family and friends accusations of disloyalty, prospective violence, and other treachery.

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Bluebook (online)
832 F. Supp. 2d 1370, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140188, 2011 WL 6048687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-brennan-v-church-of-scientology-flag-service-organization-inc-flmd-2011.