Page Suggestions: Boycott TBN, Comments, Mission, TBN News, What is going on, What to do
Deathbed power struggle at Trinity Broadcasting?
Page 2
'Emotional Case'
Trinity tried to convince Michael Koper and Carra Crouch that they had the story wrong, and should drop the suit.
"You are necessarily dragging into a very emotional case all of Brittany’s family," said an email from Trinity’s lawyers to Michael Koper and filed in Superior Court. "Based on the current circumstances, tens of thousands of dollars of attorneys' fees will be incurred in the next several weeks just on the pleadings and the initial discovery. The facts you allege are patently different than the truth. The tort(s) occurred if at all in Georgia, and thus you have a very tenuous basis to venue it here. Corporations cannot be liable for negligent supervision or reporting of an alleged rape of a minor. Failure to report is not a legal basis of a cause of action. Sexual Battery cannot be alleged against an entity. All your claims are time barred against TBN.
"Based on these flaws and many others, it is highly probable it will be dismissed in due course," Trinity’s lawyer continued. "Multiple attorneys will be preparing detailed authorities on these points. … This case has further entrenched TBN against you and Brittany. I strongly recommend you carefully consider dismissing it voluntarily, as once it is dismissed on its merits, malicious prosecution claims will be filed against all involved."
That has not yet come to pass.
'Sexual Scandals'
Trinity took special exception to Paragraph 68 in Carra Crouch's suit.
Trinity also "knowingly continues to employ individuals who are registered sex offenders who have molested minor children before," the suit said.
There, it said Trinity had a general practice of covering up sexual scandals, including "a bloody sexual assault involving Trinity Broadcasting and affiliated Holy Land Experience employees; the cover-up of director Janice Crouch's affair with a staff member at the Holy Land Experience; the attempted cover-up of director Paul Crouch’s sexual affair with Enoch Lonnie Ford; the cover-up of director Paul Crouch’s sexual affairs with other Trinity Broadcasting employees, (and) the cover-up following director Matthew Crouch’s exposure of his genitals to cleaning staff on multiple occasions."
The email from Trinity's lawyer to Michael Koper took strong exception.
"These allegations refer to information, although distorted from the truth, that could only have come from legal files of TBN that you and/or Brittany apparently stole when you were a law clerk," Trinity said. "This conduct if proven will of course result in severe consequences to you, your (law) license in both states, and it violates the penal code in the Federal and State jurisdictions where this issue will be presented."
That hasn't happened. But the "dribs and drabs" of stunning allegations continue.
The photo of Jan Crouch holding the letter was in a 70-page declaration filed in support of Carra Crouch by Michael Koper. It is supposed to help suss out whether he and Brittany Koper are bound by an old confidentiality and arbitration agreements they had signed with Trinity.
The Kopers say they are not bound by the old agreements, as those were dissolved when they were promoted to the high positions of treasurer and secretary of the company. They have a signed letter from Paul Crouch Sr. saying as much, they say.
Paul Crouch Sr. said he had no memory of signing such a letter, and the signature on the letter the Kopers have is not his.
"Paul Crouch Sr. suffers from severe memory loss probably due to his years of abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs and any declarations he signs should be read within that context," Michael Koper’s declaration says. The letter held by Jan Crouch "is a very similar letter to the one Paul Crouch Sr. wrote to Brittany and I and further shows it was in his custom and practice to write such a letter."
Each side has reported the other to various authorities, including the police and the IRS. We’ll keep you posted on what happens.