Loading ...Joel & Victoria Osteen get hero’s welcome at Lakewood
flockwoodMs. Osteen is being sued by an airline attendant over an incident that occurred on a Continental flight, but the throngs at Lakewood Church apparently haven’t lost a bit of confidence in their pastor or his wife.
H/T: Greg at faithbasedblog.com
To read an AP account of the trial, click below.
By JUAN A. LOZANO
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — The wife of megachurch evangelist Joel Osteen told jurors Friday that she was “dumbfounded” and “shook up” after a Continental Airlines flight attendant accused her of assaulting her over a spill on a first-class seat.
Victoria Osteen repeatedly denied that she attacked flight attendant Sharon Brown, who is suing Osteen over the reported confrontation before the start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colo.
“I love people. I’m guilty of that,” Victoria Osteen said.
Joel Osteen testified earlier Friday, supporting his wife’s claim and calling what happened “an unfortunate misunderstanding.”
Osteen, who was on the same flight, said his wife could never attack somebody.
“We would never disrespect authority or disrespect” the flight attendant, Joel Osteen said.
Joel and Victoria Osteen are co-pastors of Houston’s Lakewood Church, which draws about 42,000 people each week for services. Joel Osteen’s weekly television address is broadcast nationally and internationally, and he has written books that have been sold around the globe.
Joel Osteen was calm while on the stand. Victoria Osteen was animated while testifying, often moving her hands while she talked. A couple of times during her testimony, she cried.
On Thursday, another flight attendant on the plane, Maria Johnson, testified that Victoria Osteen demanded special attention to clean up the small spill.
When she didn’t get her way, Osteen became verbally and physically abusive to both flight attendants, Johnson testified. She said Osteen eventually grabbed Brown by the shoulders, elbowed her in the chest and pushed her out of the way in an attempt to get into the cockpit.
But both Joel and Victoria Osteen, who were called to the witness stand by Brown’s attorney, disputed Johnson’s testimony.
Victoria Osteen said when she first told a flight attendant about the spill, she was handed some napkins and responded, “It’s not my job,” adding, “I didn’t say it in an ugly tone of voice.”
Victoria Osteen said she’s a “touchy person,” but denied Johnson’s claim that she later grabbed Johnson and pulled her in order to have her see the spill.
Victoria Osteen said she tends to talk with her hands. She said that when she was talking with Brown, her sunglasses were in her hand but that she did not point them at the flight attendant.
Victoria Osteen told jurors that Brown’s response was to fling her hands at her and accuse her of pointing and pushing the flight attendant.
“It freaked me out. I asked a simple question,” she said.
Brown claims in her lawsuit that after pushing her, Victoria Osteen tried to get into the cockpit.
Victoria Osteen denied that, telling jurors she just wanted to get away from the situation.
“I was already freaked out because she was accusing me of stuff I didn’t do,” she said. “I was dumbfounded.”
Victoria Osteen said she told Brown, “If I’ve done something to offend you, I’m sorry,” then got some napkins and went back and cleaned up the spill.
Reginald McKamie, Brown’s attorney, asked Joel Osteen why he said in one of his religious messages that if it wasn’t for him, his wife would be in prison.
Osteen said he meant it to be a comical statement about the differences between him and his wife, that he likes routine and considers himself boring while his wife is outgoing and likes to go to new restaurants and new places.
“You don’t go to jail because you like different restaurants, do you?” McKamie asked, as the packed courtroom laughed.
“No sir,” Joel Osteen said.
Brown has claimed the flight attendants asked to have Victoria Osteen removed from the plane, but Joel and Victoria Osteen testified they left voluntarily.
The Federal Aviation Administration fined Victoria Osteen $3,000, citing interference with a crew member.
The Osteens said they did not want to pay the fine but thought it would be the best way to put the altercation behind them even though they felt they did nothing wrong.
Brown wants an apology, monetary damages and punitive damages. Brown claims she suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder because of the confrontation and that her faith has been affected.
Rusty Hardin, Victoria Osteen’s attorney, says there is no evidence Brown sustained any injuries.
The trial was set to resume Tuesday.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I suspect that the whole thing is a tempest in a teapot, but I’ve dealt with Federal agencies my entire career, and my bet is that if they paid a $3,000 fine over this, they did something wrong. I’ve heard Osteen talk about Victoria’s driving (he once claimed to wear a crash helmet when he rode with her), though I never heard him say she’d be in jail but for him.
I’ve represented a lot of rich people, and the reason that rich people like to be rich is not so much for the toys that they can buy, but for the fact that they can always be in control. They get to set their own agenda, and do pretty much what they want to. Because of this, they’re finding air travel increasingly difficult to take, even in first class (Query: When did the clergy start flying first class?): You try telling a multi-millionaire that she needs to put her tray table up and see how well that goes.
I doubt that this lady truly has post traumatic stress syndrome, but I don’t doubt that Victoria showed, uh, an unpleasant side of herself. This isn’t the first case of this kind involving rich celebrities. In fact, Victoria’s defense that I’m a “hands on person” is almost exactly what Robert Schuller, another rich televangelist, said when he was accused of laying hands on a male flight attendant who made the mistake of trying to tell the good Rev. where he could and couldn’t hang his ministerial robes. I guess Schuller’s conduct wasn’t as bad as Victoria’s: They only fined him $1,100.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Too left wing to be real, Caleb. You could argue that a flight attendant has way too much control over the passengers, and a misunderstanding could cause a passenger mental duress. The flight attendant is trained to handle this situation so how could it weaken her faith and how is money going to bring it back. Too much opportunity here for the flight attendant. I’m sure she had the passenger list and it seems strange to me that the Joel’s didn’t sit together. Not to mention the fine was paid, so in my mind any claim she would have towards Mrs Joel is over. Its a workers comp claim from that point on. She has singled Mrs Joel out, that should have her dismissed from her position immediately.
August 11th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I’m not sure I understand much of your comment, perplexed, which I suppose leaves me perplexed, but I can’t imagine that it’s a coincidence that these incidents keep happening to rich celebrities. I’m not sure how her having paid the fine means that the claim against Victoria is over; quite the opposite, once someone has admitted criminal conduct, the civil claims are made stronger, not weaker. I’m also not sure where you get the idea that she “singled out” Victoria; my understanding is that it all started from a spilled drink. Cabin attendants, now that airlines have cut back on the number of them, hardly have the time to check the passenger manifest. As I say, I’m perplexed, too. As always, the truth is no doubt somewhere in the middle, but while I’m dubious about the actual damages, I’m not dubious that a celebrity would pull a boner.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:36 am
I believe that you both are correct; if Mrs. olsteen was as innocent as she claims, then why pay a fine. However, the flight attendant has more to answer for because: she should be trained to handle difficult people, or at least have a clue for signs before things escalate and get out of hand.
I question why she did not clean the spill in the first place, like it or not, that is part of her job, which she was paid to be doing: catering to the paying customer. If a person abuses the server/worker the worker does have a right to do a civil lawsuit for damages.
As far as the lady’s faith–it wasn’t there to do much damage to anyways. The reasons for that include Matthew 10:28–Matthew 18:15-20–and 1 Corinthians 6:1-8.
If this lady’s faith is easily changed by mortal human, she needs to believe in the rapture theory, Lord knows she will never make it through the tribulation.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Peach, your comments suggest that every difficult passenger can be handled without incident, and that every spill can be cleaned up immediately and satisfactorily, and without sacrificing essential responsibilities. Reason and experience tell us otherwise. Some situations have no neat and easy resolutions.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Caleb: you are correct, but one is taught not to come to blows, and even hospitals I have worked out give mandatory lessons on self defense fir the fact that most patients who are sick are angry and take it out on any person they come in contact with.
Victoria Osteen said when she first told a flight attendant about the spill, she was handed some napkins and responded, “It’s not my job,” adding, “I didn’t say it in an ugly tone of voice.”—–the flight attendant, like it or not is being paid to take care of spills-not hand out napkins to paying customers.
That is kinda of like when you go into a hospital for an x-ray and the technologist asks you to process the films. Or if you go to trial the lawyer asks the client to bring in his own evidence.
Kroger Compamy years ago had a motto that the customer is always right, I guess those days are long gone.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Peach, I think that was Jose, not me, you were responding to. But you’re generally right that customer service has fallen tremendously during the last twenty years or so. The reason is price. Virtually everything we buy today is, when you adjust for inflation, cheaper than it has ever been in history. My work in antitrust law has demonstrated to me that nearly every business has had most of the profit beaten out of it by competition.
Thirty years ago, when I was selling cars (and no, that wasn’t a pretty sight), new car dealers made a profit of $1500 to $2000 on many cars. Today they’re lucky to make the $75 delivery fee they pay the salesman. Many dealers sell cars at invoice and make their profit on the “back end,” through doing warranty work and from the fees they make on financing the cars and selling insurance.
Thirty years ago, soft drink bottlers made $1.50 to $2.00 a case profit on name brand soft drinks. Now they’re lucky to get fifty cents, and they run so many specials during the summer that they rarely get that. Airline ticket prices are at their lowest point in history. So, the airlines have had to cut back by cutting everything they can cut, including the number of cabin attendants they have.
The bottom line is that there’s still no free lunch. If the customer is no longer always right, it’s because the customer, or at least the buying public as a whole, has decided that it would rather have things cheap than have good service.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I believe that flight attendant targeted Mrs Osteen in hopes of a quick buck. After reading the paper today, my theory may be correct. There were three eye witnesses that say no altercation took place. I wonder how the jury will feel about this. Keep us posted on this if you can Frank.