Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart's insurance companies paid $1.85 million Friday to settle a 6-year-old lawsuit with rival Marvin Gorman.
The settlement was far from $90 million Gorman sought in a 1987 defamation lawsuit against Swaggart. And it was well below $6.6 million Gorman won - before appeals - in a 1991 trial.Nevertheless, Gorman lawyer Hunter Lundy said the lawsuit was a success.
"Marvin Gorman got his name restored, his reputation back and his creditors are being paid," Lundy said.
Swaggart's attorney, Phil Wittman, said Swaggart's insurance companies ordered the settlement and Swaggart would have prevailed on appeal.
The settlement was announced in February but attorneys gave no details. Details became part of the public record in the bankruptcy case of Gorman and his ministry.
The lawsuit and the trial were an offshoot of a bitter fight between Gorman and Swaggart.
Gorman said Swaggart and his allies spread false rumors of numerous affairs to destroy Gorman's New Orleans-based TV ministry in 1985 and 1986.