Osteen lawsuit still ticking along

Things are apparently progressing — slowly — in the lawsuit against Victoria Osteen filed in September: The Chronicle is reporting that the attorney for a flight attendant accusing Osteen, the wife of Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, of assault wants to have the interior of the airplane where the incident occurred photographed.

This all goes back to Dec. 19, 2005, when Osteen reportedly went ballistic about some liquid that had been spilled on her first-class seat on a Continental flight bound for Vail; passengers on the flight said Osteen ran up the aisle and began banging on the door of the cockpit and that several flight attendants had to restrain her. Eventually, the Osteen clan was thrown off the plane. Though Osteen denied the whole thing (despite reports from fellow passengers and an FBI investigation that said it did, indeed, happen), one of the flight attendants — Sharon Brown, who claims Osteen pushed her and elbowed her in the left breast — filed suit against Osteen. Brown is seeking compensation for physical and mental injury she says she sustained during the encounter.

So a state district judge is set to consider a request from Brown's lawyer, Reginald McKamie Sr., to photograph the interior of the plane to better understand the facts of the incident. Osteen's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said he doesn't oppose that, but he still maintains (as he's paid the big bucks to do) that Osteen never did anything wrong. "Victoria never assaulted [Brown] or raised her voice," he said, adding that he thinks the suit is just an attempt to get money from Lakewood Church.