[UPDATE] May 19, 2011 --

Emotions are running high in the civil trial of a lawsuit against the owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus by his sister.

Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld cried on the stand Wednesday while describing the 2007 death of his aunt, who reared him and his sister Karen after their mother's suicide.

Karen is suing her brother for $110 million because she says his security guards assaulted her while ejecting her from their aunt's memorial service.

Kenneth Feld has testified she was only escorted out after launching a profanity-laced tirade that he said "ruined" the service.

Karen Feld didn't hear his testimony. For the second straight day she left the courtroom shouting curses after being incorrectly referred to as "Mrs. Feld" although she's never been married.

[UPDATE] May 18, 2011 --

The dramatic feud between the scions of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus has erupted into profanity-filled shouting in a federal courthouse.

Karen Feld is suing her brother, circus CEO Kenneth Feld, for $110 million over a confrontation with his security guards at their aunt's 2007 memorial service.

Karen Feld stormed out of a Washington courtroom Tuesday after defense lawyer Matthew Kirkland repeatedly called her "Mrs.Feld," which the never-married plaintiff said she found disrespectful.

Kirtland later told the judge that Karen Feld confronted him and her brother in the hallway, swore at him and lunged at him.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle responded by posting a security officer in the courtroom and ordering plaintiff and defense teams to leave court separately to avoid another confrontation.

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May 10, 2011

The scions of the family entertainment empire built on the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey circus have brought their decades-old feud into a federal courtroom.

In opening arguments Monday, Karen Feld and her brother Kenneth Feld impugned each other's motives during the 2007 memorial service for the woman who reared them.

Karen Feld is suing her brother for $110 million because she says his long-running hostility toward her led him to have his security guards assault her as they removed her from their aunt Shirley's memorial service. An attorney for Kenneth Feld, who now owns the circus, responded that his sister "lives in fantasy land" and suggested she had more interest in grabbing their aunt's jewelry than mourning her death.

The judge says the trial may last three weeks.