Lawyer: Victoria Osteen is Victim of 'Extortion'

HOUSTON, Aug. 7, 2008— -- The lawyer for Victoria Osteen, wife of TV evangelist Joel Osteen, told jurors today during opening statements in a civil trial in Texas that his client is the victim of an "attempted extortion."

Osteen is being sued by Sandra Brown, a Continental Airlines flight attendant who says she was roughed up during an in-flight confrontation with Osteen in 2005.

Attorney Rusty Hardin told the jury in a Houston courtroom that the only reason they were all there today was because of Osteen's high profile, The Associated Press reported.

Reginald McKamie, Brown's attorney, said his client was assualted by an out-of-control passenger who tried to enter the cockpit and had to be restrained.

"Sharon was attacked by someone in the community who supposedly represents a higher degree of human decency. That had an effect on Sharon," said Brown's attorney, Reginald McKamie, according to the AP.

But Hardin says his client is innocent. "Victoria Osteen never attacked her, never tried to get in the cockpit," Hardin told jurors. "The aggressor and the person who was out of control, who flipped out, was Ms. Brown."

Maria Johnson, another one of the flight attendants on the Dec. 2005 flight, took the stand and told the jury that Brown was professional and courteous toward Osteen after she complained of a spill on her first-class seat. Johnson described the spill as being the size of a 50-cent piece, the AP reported.

"She was demanding that attention be given to her immediately," Johnson said. Shealso said that Osteen kept saying: "This is ridiculous. I'm a first-class passenger."

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

A jury of seven men and five women was picked Wednesday.

Brown is seeking 10 percent of Victoria Osteen's net worth, as well as medical and counseling expenses. Osteen's husband, Joel, is not named in the suit but was on the flight that day,Both Osteen and his wife are expected to take the stand.

Hardin says the whole incident has been blown out of proportion, noting that Victoria Osteen volunteered to leave the flight after the incident, and that she subsequently paid a $3,000 FAA fine for interfering with a flight crew.

He scoffs at the claim Brown was traumatized by the encounter.