THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 11, 1995 TAG: 9510110501
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Pat Robertson has filed a $1.35 million libel suit against the man who ran his direct-marketing company in a feud that raises questions about how Robertson co-mingles business and religion.
The feud began in 1992 when Robertson fired Mark A. Peterson as president of American Sales Corp., which sold vitamins and other health-care products.
It escalated last year when Peterson bad-mouthed Robertson during interviews with Newsweek and TV's ``Prime Time Live.''
It escalated again in May when Peterson filed a $70,000 lawsuit against Robertson, saying that Robertson threatened to hurt or kill him and spread lies about him after he was fired.
Robertson upped the ante last week by filing the lawsuit against Peterson, accusing Peterson of defaming his former boss during the interviews.
The new lawsuit, filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, says Peterson's remarks caused ``immeasurable damage to (Robertson's) reputation and standing in the community.''
Robertson also accuses Peterson of mismanaging American Sales Corp. and misappropriating the company's assets. The company lost $4 million in its first two years.
Robertson's suit seeks $1 million in general damages from Peterson, plus $350,000 in punitive damages, the maximum allowed in Virginia.
Lawyers on both sides of the feud - Glen Huff of Virginia Beach for Robertson, and Joseph Lingle of High Point, N.C., for Peterson - declined to comment Tuesday.
The charges in both lawsuits speak for themselves.
Peterson filed his first. In it, he says his wife taped a phone call from Robertson in September 1994, in which Robertson made a veiled threat to her husband, comparing him to a wild stallion.
``If a stallion bites and kicks, he might break his leg. I've had horses break their legs. When a horse breaks his leg, they put him to sleep,'' court papers quote Robertson as saying.
Robertson, in another affidavit, denies making the threats and says Peterson was responsible for the company's demise.
That lawsuit is pending in federal court in Winston-Salem.
Robertson filed his suit Oct. 2. It names only one defendant: Peterson.
The lawsuit cites Peterson's remarks in a story published by Newsweek on Oct. 3, 1994. The story - promoted on the cover with the line, ``Inside Pat Robertson's Vitamin Venture'' - discussed at length the mingling of Robertson's religious ministry and for-profit businesses, especially American Sales and KaloVita, which sold vitamins and other products.
In the story, Peterson is quoted as saying the vitamins were too potent for the average consumer and sold at a high markup.
``We were buying it for $7 to $8 a bottle and selling it for $49.95,'' Peterson said. ``What I didn't understand is a man of (Robertson's) stature putting his name on products like that.''
Robertson's lawsuit also cites Peterson's remarks to ``Prime Time Live.''
On that show, according to the lawsuit, Peterson called Robertson ``very cold, manipulative and, uh, calculating.'' He said the company was ``getting letters every day saying, `What kind of operation is this?' ''
The lawsuit says that these statements and others falsely ``impugn (Robertson's) reputation in his business and profession, impute a lack of integrity . . . and allege criminal and unlawful conduct.''
This is the second time in the past year that Robertson has sued a former high-level employee.
Last December, Robertson's for-profit news company - United States Media Corp. - sued its former president, Mark A. Barth, for $10 million. The suit claims that Barth faked numbers on an important financial statement and tried to blackmail Robertson's ministry.
Ten days later, Barth sued Robertson, CBN and others for $3.3 million, claiming that Robertson wrongfully fired him in February 1994 for blowing the whistle on financial wrongdoing.
Those lawsuits are pending in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Pat Robertson filed a $1.35 million lawsuit against Mark Peterson
last week, accusing Peterson of defaming his former boss in
interviews with Newsweek and TV's ``Prime Time Live.''
Mark Peterson filed a $70,000 lawsuit against Pat Robertson in May,
claiming that the religious broadcaster threatened to hurt or kill
him, and spread lies about him after he was fired.
KEYWORDS: CBN LAWSUITS by CNB