
DATE: Friday, July 18, 1997                 TAG: 9707180639

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  117 lines

EX-REGENT PROF ACCUSES JUDGE OF BIAS HE WANTS JUDGE TO WITHDRAW FROM ROBERTSON LAWSUIT

Frustrated by repeated delays in his case, a former law professor who is suing Pat Robertson, claiming defamation, has accused the presiding judge of bias and asked him to remove himself from the case.

In court papers filed Wednesday, former Regent University law professor Paul J. Morken accused Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. of bias in favor of Robertson and Regent.

Robertson, who built a media empire from the nonprofit Christian Broadcasting Network, founded his graduate university in 1977.

Morken is suing Robertson and Regent. He says a scathing 1994 letter, in which Robertson compared rebellious Regent law professors to cult leader Jim Jones and called them ``inept as lawyers,'' was libelous. His lawsuit, which seeks $10 million, has been pending nearly three years.

In court papers, Morken and his attorney, Jeremiah A. Denton III, cite seven instances in which they say Hanson showed bias.

A hearing on the matter is set for Aug. 15.

In a related development, two other former Regent law professors who are suing Robertson over the same letter have withdrawn their cases from Virginia Beach Circuit Court and have refiled them in Norfolk's federal court.

This is an apparent effort to speed up the trial and to take the case away from Hanson. The professors' lawsuits have been pending since September 1994 and the trial is not scheduled until April 1998.

By contrast, civil cases in Norfolk's federal court usually go to trial within a year.

Lawyers for Robertson and Regent declined to comment Thursday. The professors' attorney, Denton, said the court papers speak for themselves.

The professors' lawsuits are based on a letter that Robertson wrote in February 1994. In it, Robertson said the law professors who were rebelling against him were ``myopic,'' ``lacking in common sense,'' ``inept as lawyers,'' ``not capable teachers of law,'' ``third-rate minds,'' ``extremist fanatics'' and not ``rational persons.'' He compared them with Branch Davidians and suicide cult leader Jim Jones.

In May 1996, Robertson and Regent asked the judge to throw out the lawsuits. Hanson declined, ruling that parts of Robertson's letter were ``pretty damaging'' to the professors and that a jury should decide whether they are defamatory.

Since then, Hanson has ruled against the professors on several points. Morken and Denton cite some of these in their motion to recuse Hanson.

In their motion, Morken and Denton say that:

Hanson granted delays of ``unprecedented length,'' over the professors' objections.

The trial has been postponed three times. It was originally scheduled for last summer, then February, then July. It is now set for April 1998. Hanson ordered the latest delay of nine months after one professor became ill and could not give a deposition.

Hanson did not enforce his own court order compelling Robertson to turn over personal tax returns. Hanson had ordered Robertson to do so last August. He reversed himself three months later.

Hanson did not hold Robertson or his attorney in contempt of court for blocking the service of a court order. A process server tried to give the papers to Robertson in October, chasing Robertson around a table and eventually throwing the order at Robertson's feet when Robertson's attorney blocked him.

The judge ordered Robertson to appear in court in November to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for these actions. Hanson held that hearing behind closed doors, in the judges' private conference room, and ruled that Robertson would not be held in contempt.

Hanson let Robertson use the judge's chambers and facilities at the November hearing, instead of requiring him to use the public courtroom like everyone else.

That decision, however, may not have been Hanson's.

Sheriff Frank Drew says he decided to let Robertson come up to the courtroom via a private, back entrance. Robertson left the courthouse the same way, avoiding photographers and reporters who were waiting for him in the hallway.

On Thursday, Drew said he did this because he was concerned for Robertson's safety.

``Hanson had nothing to do with that,'' Drew said. In fact, Drew added, ``The judges did not appreciate me using their private chambers for (Robertson) or anyone else.'' He said the judges warned him not to do it again.

Hanson ruled that the professors cannot pursue details of a private conversation between Robertson and a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

In a sworn deposition last year, Robertson said he had talked with some Supreme Court justices about the law school matter, and they ``don't understand what was going on with this bunch of screwballs.'' Robertson later said the ``screwballs'' reference was to former law school dean Herbert Titus and his attorney, not to the professors in this lawsuit.

The professors, however, want to know which justice Robertson was talking to, apparently to show how far the alleged defamation has spread. Hanson ruled recently that Robertson does not have to identify the justice.

Hanson stated ``gratuitously, in open court,'' that he believes that Robertson's power of recollection is superior to his.

The lawsuits now will proceed on two tracks: Morken's in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, the other professors' - Roger C. Bern and Jeffrey C. Tuomala - in federal court.

Bern and Tuomala now live in Kansas and Ohio, respectively, so they now have jurisdiction in federal court, where disputes are heard between residents of different states.

The new federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday, so no hearings have been scheduled yet. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Color photos

THE LAWSUIT

Former Regent law professor Paul J. Morken, far right, is suing

Pat Robertson, near right, for a letter in which Robertson compared

Regent law professors to cult leader Jim Jones and said they were

inept.

THE NEW DISPUTE

Morken alleges that Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr., right,

has shown a bias in favor of Robertson and Regent University,

including delays of ``unprecedented length.'' A hearing is set for

Aug. 15. KEYWORDS: LAWSUITS