ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 13, 1996 TAG: 9611130079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: Associated Press
A judge has ordered Pat Robertson to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for failing to turn over tax returns in a defamation lawsuit filed against him.
The religious broadcaster must appear Nov. 22 in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. Robertson's attorney will ask Judge Edward Hanson during the same hearing to reconsider the order to disclose his personal tax returns.
At an Aug. 23 hearing, Hanson ordered Robertson to give the returns by Sept. 15 to three Regent University professors who allege Robertson defamed them in a letter. Robertson is the university's chancellor and founder.
The professors want to show the returns to a jury to suggest appropriate punitive damages. Their attorney, Jeremiah Denton III, asked that Robertson be cited for contempt of court for refusing to turn over the returns. Denton said Robertson also should be given sanctions, including a fine and jail time, if he does not comply. The sanctions would be left up to the judge.
Hanson signed an order last month stating it appears there is cause to grant the professors' request to hold Robertson in contempt. He ordered Robertson to explain himself in court.
``This is uncalled for and it's absurd,'' Glen Huff, Robertson's attorney, told The Virginian-Pilot for a story published Tuesday. ``They're using the statute as a harassment technique.''
Repeated telephone messages seeking additional comment were left Tuesday for Huff.
Huff has argued that Robertson does not need to divulge his personal finances because he cannot be held personally liable if he loses the case. Any damages would be paid by Regent because Robertson wrote the letter as an agent of the university, Huff said.
The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in February. The professors, Robert Bern, Paul Morken and Jeffrey Tuomala, each seek $10 million in damages from Robertson and the university.
The men are suing over a letter Robertson wrote in 1994 criticizing a group of dissident law professors. The letter compared the professors with cultists and called them ``inept as lawyers'' and ``extremist fanatics.''
The professors say the letter has irreparably hurt their reputations. The letter was widely circulated on Regent's campus and published in The Pilot.
The dispute began in 1993, when the evangelical Christian law school's dean, Herbert 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.
Bern and Morken were fired. Tuomala and two other professors lost a tenure lawsuit last year in a separate case before Hanson.
A settlement was reached in August in a lawsuit filed by Titus. Terms were not disclosed.
Hanson also will hear a dispute on whether Robertson was properly served with papers ordering him to appear in court.
A private process server tried to serve Robertson on Oct. 15, as Robertson was giving a deposition in the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Association in Norfolk. Robertson's lawyer objected that this was not proper, and Robertson refused to accept the papers.
The process server laid the document at Robertson's feet and declared it had been delivered, according to court records.
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