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Ogle v. Hocker, 279 F. App'x 391 (2008)

May 29, 2008 · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · No. 06-2236

279 F. App'x 391

Case outlineMajority — Mills, District Judge.

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Troy OGLE, Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

Rick HOCKER, Defendant-Appellee

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

*392Before: COLE and COOK, Circuit Judges; and MILLS, District Judge.*

*

The Honorable Richard Mills, United States District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, sitting by designation.

MILLS, District Judge.

Troy Ogle brought defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against Rick Hocker based on statements he made concerning Ogle’s behavior during a trip abroad.

The trial court granted Hocker’s motion for summary judgment and Ogle appealed.

We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual History

Plaintiff Troy Ogle (“Ogle”) is a former international evangelist and ordained bishop who ministered in the Church of God (“COG”) for over two decades. Defendant Rick Hocker (“Hocker”), also a COG bishop, works as a senior pastor at Virginia Beach COG.

In 1999, Hocker attended a prayer conference in Virginia where he first met Ogle. Both men met again at camp meetings in the summer of 1999 and 2000. At these two events, Hocker worked as the service coordinator and chairman of the music committee while Ogle appeared as a guest speaker. Ogle’s preaching impressed Hocker and, following the last of these meetings, he accepted an invitation to accompany Ogle on a ten day ministry trip to Belgium.

On June 27, 2001, Hocker and Ogle flew to Belgium. The bishops spent most of the flight talking. At first the conversation was “prayerful” towards Belgium, but the topic soon turned to intimacy with God and from there to “intimacy between *393brothers, as well, between people.” Ogle made several statements that Hocker later thought “strange,” but he did not tell Ogle that the conversation offended him.

Once in Belgium, Ogle and Hocker went to their hotel room. Ogle • approached Hocker and, stating “In the love of Christ my brother,” he kissed Hocker on the lips. The kiss was with a closed mouth and did not last long. Hocker also claims, though Ogle denies this, that Ogle appeared nude in the bathroom doorway with a partially erect [SEXUAL PART]. After these events, Ogle invited Hocker to join him for a prayer on the floor of their room. During this prayer, Ogle engaged in some sort of contact with Hocker. Hocker describes the contact as attempting to pull him into a sexual position, whereas Ogle claims that he was symbolically holding Hocker in his arms. Several hours later, Hocker informed Ogle that he was returning home. Hocker reassured Ogle that his decision to return was not a result of his actions. The next day, Hocker flew back to the United States.

On August 1, 2001, Hocker wrote a letter to his presiding bishop in the COG concerning Ogle’s behavior.1 Hocker asked that his allegations be kept confidential. In spite of this request, Hocker, though not mentioning Ogle by name, incorporated the incident into his August 5, 2001 sermons. At the 8:30 a.m. service, Hocker stated:

And as I get on the plane, he begins to talk to me and I begin to realize that his doctrine is corrupt____And when I get there [Belgium], he begins to manifest issues of homosexuality. He wants me to be his really good spiritual friend, quote unquote----I see how easily the church can be tricked.... Now you listen to this — we must protect ourselves as the church of the living God. We must protect from heresies and false doctrines and false prophets who would lead the very elect away.

Returning to this theme in his 11:00 a.m. service, Hocker repeated:

And I began to perceive that his doctrine was corrupt____[H]e also wanted me to become his very good friend.... And I’m waiting on him to come back now from Belgium to face me, because I plan to face him in a counsel of ordained bishops and declare the man to be a heretic.... Because the enemy tried to take prophesy and the word of God and mesmerize me and take me out.

Finally, at the 6:00 p.m. service, Hocker declared: “God set me up. Put me on a plane set me next to a false prophet.... I want [sic] go into all of it, but man, I’ll tell you, if ever I was in the wilderness looking at the devil face to face I was.” In addition to making these statements during his sermons, Hocker repeated many of the allegations against Ogle to a number of individuals on at least seventeen occasions.