A Superior Court judge has ordered a couple and their attorney suing Bishop Earl Paulk to pay more than $1 million in legal fees and court costs from a dismissed case.

Mona and Bobby Brewer sued Paulk and his church, then known as Chapel Hill Harvester Church in Decatur, asserting sexual misconduct. Mona Brewer claimed in the suit she had a 14-year coercive affair with Paulk.

The Brewers dropped their years-old suit last July, but each filed a separate suit in state court later in the year.

The judge entered the order last Friday for costs incurred by three different legal firms who defended Paulk in the Superior Court case.

Matthew Wilkins of King & Yaklin, one of Paulk's firms, said they are still reviewing the order and had no comment.

Louis Levenson of Levenson & Associates, the Brewer's attorney, said he has not seen the order. Levenson and the Brewers were ordered to pay the fees.

Paulk was one of Atlanta's preeminent preachers in the 1980s and 1990s. He had a church of 10,000 and an international ministry and TV program. A series of allegations of sexual misconduct plagued his work, and Paul lost influence and his ministry.

He still goes to the church, now called the Cathedral at Chapel Hill, but has dropped from public sight. Attendance on the mammoth campus has dropped dramatically.

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