Attorney labels assault accusations against Joel Osteen's wife 'extortion'

|PIC1|The attorney defending the wife of renowned evangelist Joel Osteen said in court on Thursday that claims she assaulted a flight attendant are simply an attempt to make money.

Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown is suing Victoria Osteen for 10 per cent of her net worth over allegations that the mega-church pastor's wife shoved her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the chest after becoming angry that a spill on her first-class seat had not been immediately cleaned up, according to Associated Press.

Ms Brown also claims that Ms Osteen had to be physically restrained after trying to enter the cockpit and was finally removed from the plane in an incident before the start of a 2005 flight to Vail, Colorado. Hardin says that Victoria Osteen left the plane voluntarily with her family, reports AP.

Maria Johnson, a colleague of Ms Brown's, backed up her statement in court, telling jurors, "She [Ms Osteen] took Sharon by the shoulders and pushed her out of the way. Sharon stumbled."

Ms Brown is also asking that Victoria Osteen apologise and pay for the costs of her counselling. She claims that the hit to the chest injured her and caused her to suffer from anxiety and haemorrhoids afterwards, according to the Associated Press. She also claims that her faith suffered as a result.

Hardin told jurors that the mega-pastor's wife could be a "very excitable and expressive person", but denied that she became physically aggressive towards the flight attendant when asking her to attend to the spill.

"Victoria Osteen never touched her, never screamed at her, never attacked her, never tried to get in the cockpit," Hardin said. "The aggressor and the person who was out of control, who flipped out, was Ms Brown."

He told the court that Ms Brown was simply trying to make money by suing Victoria Osteen.

"This is nothing more than an attempted extortion," Attorney Rusty Hardin said told jurors during opening statements, according to the Associated Press.

Victoria Osteen was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine by the Federal Aviation Administration over the incident, which her attorney said she paid out of consideration for the church's integrity.

Ms Osteen co-pastors Lakewood mega-church in Houston with her husband, Joel Osteen, whose positive-thinking sermons and books have made him an international phenomenon. The church attracts crowds of around 40,000 to its Sunday services and audiences worldwide via televised broadcasts.