Judge refuses to intervene, Scientology arbitration will have to continue in trafficking case

Karen#1 · May 21, 2026

TONY ORTEGA
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[Valeska Paris and Judge Thomas Barber]
Tampa federal Judge Thomas Barber has denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter, after they asked him to step in and do something about Scientology’s “religious arbitration” becoming intolerable.
As long as there has been no ruling in the arbitration, Judge Barber said the court is powerless to do anything about it, and he didn’t even give them some hope that he could compel the Scientologists to at least put an end date on what has already lasted fifteen days.
Here’s his order in full, which was posted to the federal docket yesterday:

ENDORSED ORDER: Plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration is denied. The Court notes that the Federal Arbitration Act bars interlocutory judicial review of an ongoing arbitration. See Schatt v. Aventura Limousine, 603 F. App'x 881, 886-87 (11th Cir. 2015) ("Courts interpreting [9 U.S.C. § 10] commonly understand this to mean that the FAA allows review of final arbitral awards only, but not of interim or partial rulings."). Plaintiffs' challenges to the ongoing arbitration proceedings therefore appear premature — there is no final ruling, or even an interim or partial ruling. Moreover, Plaintiffs have not provided any valid basis — such as an intervening change in law or new evidence — that would warrant reconsideration of the Court's Order compelling arbitration. This case remains closed. Signed by Judge Thomas P. Barber on 5/20/2026.

This is the lawsuit filed in April 2022 that alleges years of abuse aboard Scientology’s cruise ship, the Freewinds, as the Baxters and Valeska say they worked as virtual slaves as children and adults. Judge Barber ruled that contracts signed while they were Scientologists obliged them to seek arbitration rather than to sue in court. The plaintiffs had previously asked the judge to reconsider his ruling, which he denied in 2024.
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