Tulsa World: Legal claims in ORU case going forward

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

Home > News > Article

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Legal claims in ORU case going forward

By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer
Published: 4/2/2008 2:50 AM
Last Modified: 4/2/2008 2:50 AM

See more coverage of the ORU lawsuit, other documents, slide shows and videos: www.tulsaworld.com/orulawsuit

At a hearing, the judge said she will review requested documents.

Most legal claims in a lawsuit against Oral Roberts University are going forward, a judge decided Tuesday.

Tulsa County District Judge Rebecca Brett Nightingale also said she will review documents requested by the former professors who sued before distributing them to those involved in the lawsuit.

Nightingale considered several requests by ORU and other defendants, including three requests to dismiss the lawsuit, during the case's second court hearing.

Former ORU professors Tim and Paulita Brooker -- along with professor John Swails, who settled his portion of the case in January -- first filed the lawsuit in October, claiming that they had wrongfully lost their jobs.

In November, the Brookers subpoenaed Sam Douglass, a pilot, for aircraft records involving ORU and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association; Jerry Isaacs, ORU's security director, for records of who entered the on-campus presidential housing compound; and Lee Belmonte, a private investigator, for documents and materials related to a report of the president's family's alleged wrongdoing.

The Brookers allege that they lost their jobs because they turned over the report to ORU leaders.

Nightingale stopped the subpoena against Belmonte, saying, "The truth of that report is completely irrelevant as to what the plaintiffs are required to prove."

The judge allowed the other subpoenas to go forward and scheduled the documents to be due to her by April 16.

She will scan them and then pass along relevant documents to those involved in the lawsuit. The lawyers will mark documents, such as tax re turns, financial information and personnel and medical records, as confidential and make the remaining documents public.

Paul Boudreaux, an attorney for the Brookers, said the information about who entered the Roberts' compound and who flew on the ORU plane could support the Brookers' claim that there was a conspiracy against them.

Claims dismissed: Also Tuesday, Nightingale dismissed breach-of-contract claims against former ORU President Richard Roberts and ORU administrators Wendy Shirk and Jeff Ogle because, she said, any actions those officials would have taken would have been as ORU or Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association employees.

ORU and the evangelistic association employed the Brookers, not the administrators as individuals, she said.

Breach-of-contract claims against ORU and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association are going forward.

Nightingale dismissed claims that ORU and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association allegedly interfered with the Brookers' contracts because organizations cannot interfere with contracts of which they are a part. Interference claims continue against Roberts, Shirk and Ogle.

Nightingale dismissed legal claims of libel against all of the defendants. She also dismissed Oral Roberts Ministries as a defendant. She agreed with defense lawyers that Oral Roberts Ministries is a trade name for the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and cannot be sued. The evangelistic association, however, is still a defendant.

April Marciszewski 581-8475
april.marciszewski@tulsaworld.com

By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

85 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

	Report Comment Eleanor, (4/2/2008 8:42:43 AM) "Nightingale stopped the subpoena against Belmonte, saying, "The truth of that report is completely irrelevant as to what the plaintiffs are required to prove." ^^^^^^^^ This makes total sense to me.
	Report Comment SRV, (4/2/2008 9:50:23 AM) Sam Kinison would have had a field day with this mess! Sam, we miss ya!
	Report Comment Joe-Allen Doty, Tulsa, OK (4/2/2008 10:09:27 AM) Sam Kinnison's parents were the pastors of Beams of Light Tabernacle, now called "Beams of Light Family Church." -- I did not care for him; but, he was very much like Dan "Larry the Cable Guy" Whitney is of today. Whitney makes fun of Christians although his family were Christians. When he makes fun of Christians, he stupidly/ignorantly adds, "Lord, I apologize for that." One does not apologize for something rehearsed in advance. -- Speaking of Whitney, while he was raised on a farm, he is not a Southeastern USA redneck because he is from Iowa.
	Report Comment Joe-Allen Doty, Tulsa, OK (4/2/2008 10:19:59 AM) It is interesting for the past several decades, ORU's security directors have been members of local Assemblies of God and also plain clothes detectives with the Tulsa Police Department. -- While I only saw Jerry Isaacs at the AG where I was a member for several years before moving to California, I knew Larry Johnson and his family also since they were members of the AG I attended before I went to ORU and had originally became a member of in 1960. -- Johnson, in his judgmental mind, had every person whom he arrested, already convicted, sentenced to prison or to death before they had even gone to trial. He did not care if the actual evidence proved otherwise; he already had his mind made up. -- His younger brother, John, is an ORU graduate and his mother was an employee of OREA in the Prayer Tower for a very long time.
	Report Comment Joe-Allen Doty, Tulsa, OK (4/2/2008 10:30:10 AM) I hope that as a result of the trial that the current ORU Board of Trustees stop Richard and Lindsay Roberts from even using ORU's TV production facilities, its local TV station (KGEB) and the cable netword, Golden Eagle Broadcasting for their fundraising. -- I seriously doubt if the Robertses have even told their listeners that they are no longer a part of ORU and the Prayer Tower is not their property either. But, they still use the ORU Prayer Tower Logo constantly in the lower left hand corner of the screen for the fund-raising broadcasts.
	Report Comment dtaylor, (4/2/2008 11:32:12 AM) Shed some light on this for us, please. Those in the know. This is looking like a systematic breakdown.
	Report Comment SEC, (4/21/2008 3:33:31 AM) #42 - FDF - Hey there good to see you - missed hanging out here on the boards with you. By the way, concerning CM's "prayer" post concerning using the name Fifty Dollar Fine and saying it could be anyone named Fifty Dollar Fine - well I went to the website worldwideweb DOT howmanyofme DOT com you can find how many people in the United States have your first name or your last name. Well, I typed in "Fifty Dollar Fine" and guess what I came up with?????? A BIG FAT ZERO number of people have the name Fifty Dollar Fine. BJ (Charismatic Mom) it was a tad bit stupid to say that. You should have just apologized for having posted that prayer request on a public board without having asked FDF if it was ok - that would have been the right thing to do - especially with the sensitive nature of what was written and the fact that anybody who reads the TW Comment Boards would have been able to figure it out. So, be like Christ-like and quit the excuses and apologize and ask for her forgiveness and learn from this - cause there is something to be learned from this about prayer groups - you really should have the people's permission to put them on prayer chains or prayer lists - without there permission it is a violation of privacy. Now if you are going to just pray quietly to yourself about that person that is another story. You never know when that information that is being passed around is going to come back to the person and hurt or embarrass them. JMO!
	Report Comment ollie12, (4/10/2008 7:27:19 PM) I was told recently that the television program RR and LR are doing is not on ORU grounds at all and also they haven't did a live show since early Jan. anyone know for sure?
	Report Comment Fifty Dollar Fine, (4/12/2008 6:29:47 AM) Obama said "bitter". 4 sips for all!
	Report Comment larry smith, (4/13/2008 9:50:12 PM) the program is live..and continues from the prayer tower..orm..richard and lindsay will be moving to a a new studio in the next few weeks....orm is 50 plus years,,,and will go on,,,and yes the tworld has cut back on the cat-box for a frustrated few....the move is long overdue....their coverage of the morph and melting of one tulsa's major institution...has been hapless...reckless and as big a story as the story...
	Report Comment Bill, ORU Graduate and Attorney, brownwood (4/17/2008 9:36:20 PM) I have not looked at this site since Green took over. How is that going? I trust things are better at ORU. Any developments with RR? I saw where Copeland still will not release financial docs. ...obviously, he does not want anyone to know what he has been hiding all these years.
	Report Comment Pink, Jenks (4/18/2008 3:56:47 PM) Wednesday was the last day for the defendants to produce the two discovery items (pilot's logs and security / gate logs). They are now in the judge's possession. What names do you think are in the logs? Who do you think the interesting people are in regard to entering the compound, the young boys, and other alleged activities. The time has elapsed for these documents to be presented, so what are the names that to look for in the documents?
	Report Comment dtaylor, (4/18/2008 7:11:27 PM) Truth be Told? God had them erased? Try Mart Green had them erased. The new promo on the life of OR is part of the campaign to turn things around. My best guess.
	Report Comment to tulsa world, (4/4/2008 11:19:09 PM) TULSA WORLD I see you have done it again. Newspapers are no longer needed anyway. Thanks for nothing.
	Report Comment bette, (4/4/2008 11:49:43 PM) tulsa world I will never advertise again.
	Report Comment Deborah, Tulsa, Ok (4/5/2008 4:38:00 AM) JustCurious, Denver: Real estate sales are brisk here. I have never been busier. The HOA eats the fees or the lender repossess the condo and the new owner, the mortgage company, makes monthly fees until it is sold. The Rich Dad/Poor Dad author, Robert Kwaski, was on Fox the other day and stated the Tulsa market is the hottest in the counry. We never expereienced over pricing of used homes in this area so we are not experiencing market corrections. The area market is undergoing some correction with new construction.
	Report Comment JustCurious, Denver (4/5/2008 9:59:45 AM) 71 Deborah....thanks for the info. Am thankful you are prospering!
	Report Comment Seth S. Stevens, Tulsa , (4/5/2008 5:49:57 PM) Oh I seriously beg your pardon, what silly savages sit on these sarcastic blogsites anyway?
	Report Comment TruthBeTold-LISTEN UP, Tulsa (4/9/2008 9:46:16 AM) Posters: Is it my imagination, or is TW offering fewer board on which to post concerning anything with ORU. The older boards which were active seem to have disappeared. One post about ORU students who follow God has had all its comments erased. There is no posting available. What's up?
	Report Comment Rick, Tulsa (4/4/2008 1:21:01 PM) Thank you #61 for your comments on "The Midas Touch." I get tired, like others I know, of hearing the same things about sowing and reaping again and again, it just doesn't make sense to me, because Jesus said To give expecting nothing in return, etc. We would all agree that God abundantly blesses those that love and obey him, more than we could ever hope or dream; I know I have been blessed very much, more than I deserve. I'm just praying that these things get resolved quickly, I have no desire to destroy the Robert's family, no matter what they have or haven't done. God's work getting done is the only thing that matters. I once sat on a jury with Rebecca Nightingale as judge. She seemed like a very competant and fair judge, and nice person to me; I am praying that God will give her the wisdom to decide this case, it seems like she is doing a good job to me. Please stop hatin' people, it only makes you more bitter. We're commanded to build up others, not tear them down. Let God be the judge. God is God and we are not, we are just works of his mighty hands.
	Report Comment Fifty Dollar Fine, (4/4/2008 7:30:16 PM) I use Le Creuset pots. They come in a rainbow of colors.
	Report Comment dtaylor, (4/4/2008 9:19:32 PM) Former reader's pacifier is a bottle of Windsor.
	Report Comment dog tag, (4/4/2008 9:42:17 PM) Joe-Allen Doty, Tulsa, OK I hear whaT you must be trying to say...and agree..imbecile...can used as a noun....or as an adective to discribe you....and the others....logging in as you.....
	Report Comment JustCurious, Denver (4/4/2008 9:44:35 PM) Deborah....since you are in the real estate, has it hit seriously affected the buying and selling of homes in your area? Who pays the homeowner's monthly fees when a person who owned the condo walks away from it?
	Report Comment WIZARD OF OZ, Tulsa OK (4/4/2008 10:29:13 PM) to all on this blog... You can click your heels together and repeat "there's no place home-and-home" three times, for all it matters - the only way your "wish will be granted" is when you start making sense on this blog. Your mentality is about the same as the Wizard of OZ!!

25 of 85 comments displayed. | View All

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.