Osteen Trial Gets Underway

A jury is expected to be picked today in Houston in a lawsuit against the wife of megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. Joel Osteen, his wife and 2 children agreed to leave a Continental flight after Victoria Osteen got into an argument with a flight attendant. The pastor of Houston's Lakewood Church, the largest in the nation, was headed to Vail, Colorado for a skiing vacation.

A spill on Victoria Osteen's first class seat was not cleaned to her satisfaction and resulted in an argument with a flight attendant. In a letter, posted on the church’s website shortly after the incident, Victoria Osteen wrote that she regretted what happened, emphasizing that she chose to leave the plane and was not forced to do so. However, wire reports quote the FBI as saying Victoria Osteen, "failed to company with the flight attendant's instructions and they were asked to leave the plane." What's not in dispute is that the incident led to an hour delay for everyone on board. They took a later flight to Colorado.

No charges were filed. But the FAA fined Victoria Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a crew member during the flight.

But that wasn't the end of it. Flight attendant Sharon Brown decided to sue. She alleges Victoria Osteen assaulted her during the flight by throwing her against an airplane bathroom door and elbowing her in the chest. The Osteen’s denied these allegations.