ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: Associated Press
A judge refused Thursday to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by three law professors over a letter written by Regent University's founder and chancellor, Pat Robertson.
Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. questioned whether the language used in the letter criticizing a group of dissident law professors at Regent was merely hyperbole and constitutionally protected free speech.
Hanson set Feb. 3 for trial of the case.
In the February 1994 letter, Robertson suggested the professors had ``third rate minds'' and weren't capable teachers of law. He also compared them to cultists and suggested they were trying to destroy the law school.
``No rational person burns down the house he occupies,'' he wrote.
The dispute began the previous summer when the evangelical Christian law school's dean, Herbert W. Titus, was forced out by Robertson. Eight professors sent a complaint to the American Bar Association, which was considering Regent's request for full accreditation.
Eventually, three professors - Roger Bern, Paul Morken and Jeffrey Tuomala - filed a lawsuit against Robertson and the university. Each is seeking $10 million in damages.
Glen A. Huff, Robertson's attorney, said the religious broadcaster and founder of the university was expressing his opinion about what Huff said had become a mutiny within the law school.
``Cutting to the quick, Dr. Robertson's response was, `This is crazy,''' Huff said.
He also argued that, as an officer of the nonprofit university, Robertson has immunity under Virginia law from such lawsuits.
But Jeremiah A. Denton III, attorney for the law professors, said the immunity doesn't cover willful misconduct. He said the letter was written ``out of spite, hatred, ill will'' against those who challenged Robertson's authority.
Hanson agreed to allow the case to go to trial.
``If a law professor is trying to get a job somewhere, what could be more damaging than a letter from the chancellor that he has a third-rate mind and is not a capable teacher of law?'' the judge asked.
He noted the letter was ``written by a man who is a lawyer and is well aware of the power of words.''
Two of the professors, Bern and Morken, were fired. Tuomala and two other Regent professors lost a tenure lawsuit last year in a separate case before Hanson.
Titus has a separate lawsuit pending against Robertson. It is slated for trial in August.
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