Victoria Osteen, Joel Osteen's Wife, Accused Of Assaulting A Flight Attendant

HOUSTON — A jury was seated Wednesday in a lawsuit alleging the wife of nationally known pastor Joel Osteen assaulted a flight attendant.

Opening arguments were set for Thursday in a case Victoria Osteen's lawyer called "silly." But Reginald McKamie, attorney for Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown, said he hopes the trial will show "that celebrity status doesn't take precedence."

Brown accuses Victoria Osteen of assaulting her before the start of a 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colo. Brown alleges Victoria Osteen threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast during an angry outburst over a stain on her first-class seat. The Federal Aviation Administration fined Victoria Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a crew member.

Joel Osteen was at his wife's side Wednesday in court. McKamie said he expected to call the couple as witnesses.

Joel Osteen preaches at Lakewood Church, a Houston megachurch where about 42,000 people flock each week and where Victoria Osteen is co-pastor. His weekly television address is broadcast nationally and internationally.

Some potential jurors during questioning admitted to being star-struck by the Osteens and that their respect for them might affect their judgment.

"He has gotten me through a lot of tough times. I would believe what he has to say. I have a lot of respect for him," one female in the jury pool said.

Other potential jurors said they didn't like preachers or televangelists and that ministers can lie.

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Brown wants an apology and punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Victoria Osteen's net worth as part of her suit.

Victoria Osteen's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said before jury selection began Wednesday that Brown's claims are false and that what happened was a "minor incident." Hardin also asked a judge to throw out an FAA report detailing the alleged incident, saying the agency's investigation was "incredibly incomplete."

"This is a very silly case," Hardin told reporters.

McKamie said the FAA did an appropriate investigation. State District Judge Patricia Hancock said she would make a decision later on whether the report would be allowed.

Brown's suit claims the flight attendants asked to have Victoria Osteen removed from the plane. Hardin says Victoria Osteen and her family left voluntarily. The incident delayed the flight about 2 1/2 hours.

According to court documents, Brown claims that she suffers from anxiety and hemorrhoids because of the incident and said her faith was affected. She is also suing Osteen for medical expenses for counseling.

Brown had previously claimed she was attacked in another incident by an airport employee, according to a deposition she gave in the case.

Comments

[Razz]

Organized Religion is such a BS.
AS the late George Carlin said.
"God loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good BS story."

http://www.rense.com/general69/obj.htm

[mono]

This is my firm belief that a person who talks/preaches about God is the biggest CHEAT of the world.

[thankulord13]

Funny thing nobody asked your opinion!

[ZimboChick]

do u people make new screen names for every post? I have always wondered

[70sFez]

“Organized Religion is like Organized Crime; it preys on peoples’ weakness, generates huge profits for its operators, and is almost impossible to eradicate.”

[ZimboChick]

and breeds hatred and division

[thatsitfortheotherone]

I'll be she's a hottie tho.

Just sayin.

[thatsitfortheotherone]

There is no g o d.

Suckers.

[timeforachangenow]

so tell me....8)

can I be the one...

that gets to smile at you on your judgement day....8)

and get to say...

sorry....wrong again....8(

don't worry...I won't rub it in too much...8)

but then again...I have been wrong b4...8)

[knowhelpnow]

Real Christians don't put themselves up as better then other people,
If you give to these mega-churches you are being taken.

[darcy]

Ms. Osteen should be arrested for wearing such an ugly outfit. Doesn't she know that shoulder pads are out of style? Good grief, I would be terrified to hear Stacey and Clinton's comments on that dress...to say nothing of her hair.

[lvdragonlady]

Now here is a true snake oil salesman.
She will get off, Houston is so in awe of Joel that they would never convict her or him of anything even if the truth was standing right in front of them.

[SweetJudith]

You are right.
He teaches that greed is really good
however you get it. I remember this story when it happened.
The snake oil salesman's wife had to be taken off the flight by FBI agents.
She wrote a letter to her church but she left out what really happened.

[moAb]

Kind of like an Enron of the soul, sort of...

[1differentdrummer]

What is Victoria's secret?

[PanFx]

That is one gorgeous mullet Joel is sportin'. I'm just sayin'...

[argent1]

My wife has a 100% accurate analysis rating for her "Gaydar" observations. Joel -- you will be exposed!

[cjohnathan]

PLEASE!

[OnTheCusp]

You know, I've always thought he was gay, too. There are signs all over him. I'm agreeing with your wife.

[fleaba]

I think that huge punitive damages are in order for anyone who gets physical with an airline employee. In addition, the FAA should be imposing much larger fines and jail time for people that cause problems of this nature. 3K is nothing compared to the loss of money and inconvenience Victoria Osteen's tantrum caused other people as well as the airline. Let's see: There is the cost of travel and airline reservation agents to change all the misconnected flights, rebooking of hotels and rental cars due to the delay. Not to mention the imposition of her self-indulgent behavior and the affect it had upon every other passenger and person working or related to those passengers who's plans were affected. Finally, this doesn't even begin to take into account all the other aircraft, flight crews and passengers that had to be rescheduled by the airline and FAA. Oh and did I mention the amount of fuel that was wasted if other aircraft had to circle due to the delay and the unavailability of the gate?

Viav la revolution, Victora, don't say I didn't warn you.

[jplraider]

I'm from Houston.

This is an obvious case of "I'm a rock star and you're not" syndrom.

I think they need to throw the book at her, however, asking for 10% of her net value is equally obsene.

Just some random thoughts.

[thatsitfortheotherone]

Better to ban her from commercial flights for five years.

That would fix her a$$.

[SweetJudith]

An article in People Magazine said he now flies only Private Jets.
And they showed a picture of him sitting in one with a huge smile on his face.
It makes me sick. Just another snake oil salesman.

[cjohnathan]

Hate them!
Stone them!
CRUCIFY THEM!
I've never seen a longer, more disrespectfull thread in my life. As a new convert to the Dem party and many of its liberal ideas, I'm shocked to see that TOLERANCE is the 1st thing you guys discard.
Obama's a Christian. Are we going to throw him on the same pyre?

[BlackWidowPilot]

The radical atheists and rightwing trolls who masquerade as such here on HuffPo no more speak for the majority of atheists on the planet than Stalin or Mao, anymore than Jimmy "Ah Haf SINNED" Swaggert speaks for Christians such as you or I.

Stories like these however attract radicals and tolls on internet fora like enabling authoritarian organizations draw pedophiles and other predators to their ranks.

Don't let 'em throw you.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[cjohnathan]

Sir, thanks for holding your nose and wading in here with me. Also, assuming your username refers to the Northrop P-61, I salute your service to our country.

[bugsbonzai]

It's not about Christianity. It's about blatant hypocrisy within the ranks of those who claim to be Christian about the very teachings of Christianity. Why are these fiends in first class anyway? A minister of the Christian faith should know better. Live a normal life with enough money, but stop abusing the money of your followers for material luxuries. How much hard-earned money donated to that church is going to go to the Osteen defense fund and into the pockets of lawyers instead of into charities that do good Christian work for those in need? That putrid stench is what turns many off from the faith.

[thatsitfortheotherone]

This isn't about politics.

Just as you aren't about being a Democrat.

Get bent.

[keiran]

you can feel free to go back whereever it is you came from...Im guessing you never really left anyway
bye bye faker

[TN]

Why doesn't she just ask, daddy jesus, her words, to get her out of this one.

[ThinkLiberal]

Oh what a perfectly peaceful and harmonious world this would be, were it not for the ever-present scab of organized religion. Look at all the wars, all the suffering and all of the bloodshed and division suffered by fellow human beings since the beginning of time, and you will find one omni-present common thread: the shackle of religion. Here in the good ol' US of A, the grip of Christianity as the dominant religion, has done more damage than any natural or man-made phenomenon. Just ask our friends, native Indians. Assuming you can find any.

[euthman]

On the other hand, imperious, peremptory flight attendants can be equally as scabby, if on a smaller scale. I really dislike both of these characters, so I think I'll sit this one out.

[BlackWidowPilot]

euthman,

back in the Jurrassic Age when I was studying for a career in law enforcement one of my instructors -a parole officer for the county in which the university resided- shared with us an acronym he encountered written on a sticky note attached to a police report concerning two neighbors who had gotten into a fist fight:

A.V.A.N.H.B.I.

When he asked the local cop he was working with what it stood for, my instructor received the following reply:

*A__h___ *Versus *A__h___ *No *Human *Beings *Involved.

I leave you with that as a third possible analysis of what happened in this incident.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[BlackWidowPilot]

Yup, religion has had its hand in war and oppression, no doubt about it. Now for a history lesson; the two most brutal despots of history to date who killed more people than any other, were *Stalin* and *Mao,* both avowed atheists.

Real Christians know the difference between a heretical dominionist quack televangelist and what the Bible says about such creatures, the words of Jesus Himself on the matter:

"Be thou not as the hypocrites who love to pray upon the street corners and in the synagogues, that they may be seen by men, for I say unto you, they have their reward! When you would pray to your God, lock yourself in your closet, and there in secret, pray to your God, who is Himself in secret.""

"It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

Christianity like most religions comes in all sorts of flavors. To judge all Christians or even most by the same standard is intellectually bankrupt, just as measuring the character and morality of all atheists by the yardstick of Stalin or Mao is simply stupid.

If you *think *liberal as your screen name implies, then you cannot deny the sheer intellectual folly of so broad and sweeping a generalization. If you would live by your reason, then you cannot stand on unreasoned condemnation.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[ThinkLiberal]

Having long ago "seen the light" and chosen to divorce myself from the farce that is organized religion, I have in fact found far more intellectual gravity in taking a well reasoned approach to the realities of our / my very existence. To live one's life based on the supposition and hypotheses of a collection of childishly confusing and self-contradictory fairy tales, is indeed, sheer folly.

[chendri887]

I share your frustration and desire to slot religion into that category. However, it's more complicated than that, isn't it? The Judeo-Christian tradition also led to some of our (in the West) more compassionate and modern values, the values that give us something like this forum and this technology. It also contributed to capitalism, secularism, and some aspects of the liberalism both you and I probably champion. However, when I see the Biblical literalist pre-mil dispensationalist Apocalyptic frenzy that guides many American evangelical churches, it's hard to remember those attributes as coming from the same tradition.