Christian Radio Suit Dismissed by Judge

They were a hit team on Christian radio: James Dobson, folksy psychologist, dispensing advice on everything from bed-wetting to the Bible, and Gil Moegerle, the sidekick, feeding him questions.

But their parting was bitter: Moegerle sued in 1988, claiming that Dobson and his powerful Pomona-based Christian media empire, Focus on the Family, had invaded Moegerle’s privacy and harmed him financially and emotionally. The dispute centered on the collapse of Moegerle’s first marriage, his decision to marry his former secretary and Dobson’s hiring of Moegerle’s ex-wife.

But on Monday, midway through the trial of his civil suit against Dobson and Focus on the Family, the judge approved a motion by the defendants to throw the case out on the grounds that the allegations had not been proved. Moegerle’s attorney did not oppose the motion.

The abbreviated trial provided some titillating testimony: Dobson on the stand denying he ever had an extramarital affair, Moegerle describing the onset of lustful feelings for the woman who would become his second wife after his marriage collapsed.

Judge Theodore Piatt said Moegerle failed to prove that his emotional distress was caused by outrageous conduct by the defendants. In addition, he said, by airing the dispute in a letter to as many as 90 evangelical leaders, Moegerle’s second wife had probably waived any claim the couple had to privacy.

Piatt said he was undecided about whether Moegerle had presented enough evidence about business interference to warrant continuation of the trial, but that issue was taken out of his hands when the former on-air sidekick decided to end his suit.

David Warren, attorney for Moegerle, said court rulings narrowing the focus of the trial had significantly changed the case. Moegerle had accused Dobson of meddling in his first marriage by talking to his wife and therapist, but that issue was declared out of bounds by the judge’s ruling that Focus was a religious organization whose internal workings during Moegerle’s employment there were protected by the First Amendment.

Jurors and alternates said they were split 12 to 2 in Dobson’s favor without even hearing the defense case.

Dobson, who parlayed best-selling books on marriage and parenting into a huge nonprofit organization that promotes Christian family values through radio, films and publications, said he feels vindicated. “From the beginning, we felt there was no basis to the complaint,” he said.

Dobson, 55, was a psychologist who had written best-selling books on marriage and parenting when he decided in 1977 to create Focus on the Family to promote family values from his evangelical Christian perspective through the media, principally radio. He hooked up with Moegerle, who helped develop the radio program and then joined it as co-host.

The rapport between Dobson and Moegerle made the program a hit on hundreds of Christian radio stations. The program, which Focus estimates reaches more than 1 million listeners a day, has continued without Moegerle, who quit the radio program in 1985 because of his marital problems. Moegerle said his marriage was collapsing and Focus officials feared that his visibility as a spokesman would be embarrassing to an organization whose principles include the permanency of marriage.

Moegerle became head of the organization’s film department, but that job ended, too, when he told Dobson that he planned to marry Carolyn Alexander, who had been Moegerle’s secretary. The couple submitted letters of resignation in April, 1987, and were married two months later, taking the hyphenated name Alexander-Moegerle.

Dobson testified that the parting was amicable, and in fact, Focus continued Alexander-Moegerle’s $5,000-a-month salary for six months after he left and then gave him another $5,000 for continued use of his voice on taped broadcasts. But the relationship was ruptured in January, 1988, when Dobson found out that Alexander-Moegerle’s first wife, Ruth, was destitute and gave her a job at Focus.

Dobson said the Alexander-Moegerles complained bitterly about the hiring, threatened legal action and contacted the Focus board and staff to demand that the ex-wife be dismissed. Dobson said the furor even generated rumors that he had an “inappropriate” relationship with Ruth Moegerle.

Dobson testified that he came to his marriage as a virgin 31 years ago and that he and his wife “have never had the slightest flirtation with anyone else.” But in an effort to placate the Alexander-Moegerles, he said, he dismissed Ruth Moegerle after four days on the job and his organization found her employment at a university.

Alexander-Moegerle said that he never objected to Focus giving his first wife $17,000 in loans and gifts for financial need, but that hiring her told the world that she was employable at Focus on the Family, but he was not.

He had trouble finding a job after he left Focus, Alexander-Moegerle testified. When he finally landed a position as a West Coast representative of an advertising agency in the religious field, he said, Dobson and Focus interfered so much that the office was closed in a year. Dobson denied interfering.

Apart from a recent part-time job with a Christian ministry, Alexander-Moegerle, 47, said he has been unemployed for two years. With the court case behind him, he said, he hopes to re-establish himself in the religious communications field.