A federal judge has a thrown out a media company’s bid to sue ex-employees for an allegedly unpaid $22,000 loan issued by the company’s cofounder. International Christian Broadcasting, an affiliate of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which calls itself "the world’s largest religious network," sued Michael and Brittany Koper for the unpaid sum, plus $100,000 in punitive damages. The company was the loan’s assignee after Janice Crouch, Brittany’s grandmother, initially gave the loan to Michael. Crouch is a Trinity cofounder. Before International Christian Broadcasting sued the Kopers, the couple filed a lawsuit against Trinity’s lawyers in California for allegedly encouraging unlawful financial dealings by the network.
Eastern District Judge Leonard Wexler (See Profile), sitting in Central Islip, dismissed International Christian Broadcasting’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the unpaid sum did not exceed the $75,000 federal jurisdiction minimum for claims of diverse parties. His Feb. 19 ruling in International Christian Broadcasting v. Koper, 12-cv-3570, adopted a recommendation from Magistrate Judge Gary Brown (See Profile), who wrote he "strongly" recommended dismissal because, in part, the case is "a petty, personal vendetta" (NYLJ, Oct. 30, 2012).
