An Indiana federal district court last week allowed plaintiffs to move ahead with most of their claims in a lawsuit between two cousins in their battle to control of LeSEA, described by the court as:
a Christian non-profit organization based in South Bend, Indiana and with wide-ranging operations. LeSEA was founded by Dr. Lester Frank Sumrall (grandfather of defendant Lester Sumrall) in 1957 and has grown to operate churches, bookstores, a Bible college, a large food and disaster relief operation, as well as a series of television and radio broadcast networks focused on religious programming.
In
LeSEA Inc. v. LeSEA Broadcasting Corp., (ND IN, May 10, 2019), the court described the legal issues involved:
The gist of the case involves allegations of a wide ranging attempt to steal trademarks and other intellectual property as well as a host of alleged state law violations sounding mostly in conversion and other intentional torts.
The
Indiana Lawyer, reporting on the decision, said in part:
Two “warring cousins” who each claim to be the rightful heir to the South Bend-based LeSEA Christian broadcasting network will continue to slug it out after a federal judge largely denied one cousin’s motion to dismiss.
