2 Churches Get New Chances to Appeal : Courts: Large damage awards against the Hare Krishnas and the Church of Scientology are among cases affected by a U.S. Supreme Court action.

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court Monday gave attorneys for the Hare Krishnas and the Church of Scientology another chance--although a slim one--to persuade a California court that it should throw out multimillion-dollar verdicts won in lawsuits filed by former devotees.

Two weeks ago, the high court said juries may impose huge punitive damage verdicts so long as a state judge makes sure that the damage awards are in line with the gravity of the offenses.

Following the usual practice, the justices on Monday sent back for reconsideration seven pending appeals on punitive damages, the two highly publicized religion cases from Southern California among them.

“What it does is buy them time, and we’re talking about maybe a year’s delay” in the possibility for appeals, “so to us it wasn’t happy news,” said Robin George, whose family won a multimillion-dollar verdict against the Krishnas. The verdict was originally $32.6 million, but a trial judge later reduced it to $2.9 million.

“On the other hand,” George added, “the award is gaining interest at a rate of 10% a year.”

The brief and inconclusive high court order keeps alive two legal disputes that date to the late 1970s, a time when non-traditional religions flourished in California and parents feared losing their children to so-called “cults.”

In 1983, a Santa Ana jury found that the Krishnas had brainwashed Robin George, who was a teen-ager at the time, persuading her to run away from home to join the sect. For a year, Robin was hidden all over the United States and Canada as her parents conducted a desperate search for her. The jury handed down a $32.6-million verdict against the Krishnas in the case.

In 1986, a Los Angeles jury handed down a $30-million verdict against the Church of Scientology, which was said to have ruined the mental health and financial standing of former member Larry Wollersheim.

Responding to appeals from the churches, state judges reduced the amounts of the awards to less than one-tenth of the original amounts. The Krishnas were ordered to pay $2.9 million plus interest to George and her mother, Marcia, who will get the majority of any final award. The Georges argued that Marcia and her late husband suffered trauma as they spent a year frantically searching for their daughter before she was finally found and “deprogrammed.” The judgment now totals more than $5 million, attorneys said.

The Church of Scientology was told to pay $2.5 million plus interest to Wollersheim.

Attorneys for both organizations urged the Supreme Court to intervene, contending that they had been subjected to a “heresy trial” in California. The verdicts, they said, were violations of their religious rights under the U.S. Constitution.

They asked the high court to declare that churches cannot be hit with damage verdicts that could destroy their ability to practice their religions.

But after holding the appeals for a year, the justices ignored the religious claims. Instead, the cases were considered among a series of big-business disputes that challenged huge jury awards that punish an offender rather than merely compensate the victim for actual losses. In its order Monday, the court vacated the final judgments issued by the California courts and sent the cases back to state appeals courts “for further consideration in light of Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. vs. Haslip,” the punitive damage ruling issued March 4.

Both sides found cause for optimism in the brief orders.

The Church of Scientology issued a statement calling the court action “another major victory for the Church of Scientology.”

The Krishnas said in a statement that the orders “could result in a victory for religious freedom.”

“I’m pleased because we’re still alive to fight on,” said Los Angeles attorney David M. Liberman, who represented the Krishnas. “This could continue the case for a couple of more years.”

If they finally lose the case, the Krishnas say, they will have to sell their temples in West Los Angeles and may have to sell others in Laguna Beach and San Diego.

“We’re happy that it hasn’t been rejected, and it actually gives us more time to inform the public about the case,” said Kosarupa Ely, membership director of the Laguna Beach temple where Robin George first encountered the Krishnas. “The members know about this. Everyone has been happy that we still have our temple and we still have an opportunity to let people know about the case.”

“I hope this means things will move more quickly now,” said Robin George. George, now 31 and married, is an Orange County interior designer working toward a master’s degree at Cal State Long Beach.

“I’m a little disappointed that the case is not finally over. It’s seemed to drag on forever. . . . But my attitude has always been (that a lawsuit is) a gamble, it’s a risk. You can hope and pray for it, but you have to be prepared to go on with your life.”

Her attorney, David A. Niddrie of San Diego, said he is confident that a state appeals court meeting in San Diego will affirm its earlier judgment.

“At each stage, this case has been thoroughly reviewed and the verdict was reduced, so I think we have met all the criteria” set down by the Supreme Court, Niddrie said.

Even if the state appeals courts affirm their original judgements, the cases will not necessarily be over. Attorneys for the churches could appeal to the Supreme Court again and ask the justices to rule on their religious claims.

Liberman, the Krishnas’ attorney, said the court’s action “is not a rejection” of the religious claims. Rather, the court simply chose to act on a different issue: punitive damages.

Niddrie disagreed. “If they had been interested in those issues” on the freedom of religion, “the court would have agreed to hear them now. I think this means those claims are dead,” he said.

Times staff writer Nancy Wride in Orange County contributed to this report.