Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld sanctions imposed against a Presbyterian Church (USA) presbytery after a lower court “unavoidably” concluded that the presbytery had “in bad faith advanced frivolous arguments in support of a claimed right it knew had no legal or evidentiary support.”
In a March 9 ruling, the Court of Appeal not only upheld the $390,000 sanctions against the Presbytery of South Louisiana, it also awarded interest to Carrollton Presbyterian Church in Carrollton, La., totaling approximately $90,000 bringing the total sanctions to $480,000.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeals stated, “After a thorough review of the record, we find the trial court did not commit manifest error in awarding sanctions against the presbytery … The presbytery clearly violated the TRO by the actions of the synod AC. In an email dated June 17, 2009, Dr. Alan Cutter, the presbytery general presbyter, discussed that the synod was not named in this suit, but that no one from the synod should appear in court ‘lest they be put in jail for contempt of court!’ There is no doubt that the presbytery, through the actions of ‘persons in active concert or in active participation with it, on its behalf or in its stead’ violated the TRO, which resulted in the unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.”
The Court of Appeals also agreed with the trial court’s findings that the presbytery did not make “reasonable inquiry before filing pleadings seeking to prohibit Carrollton from disposing of its own property.”
The court’s ruling said that there were “numerous emails and exhibits in the record that illustrate that the presbytery sought to cause unnecessary delay or increase the cost of litigation in this matter. Even though the presbytery acknowledges that church property disputes are not foreordained and that a trust must be in ‘some legally cognizable form,’ the only form of trust that the presbytery ever relied on was a statement added to the Book of Order. However, Carrollton was clearly exempted from that statement. Therefore, the presbytery had not the ‘slightest justification’ for arguing that a trust had been formed.”
The ruling of the Court of Appeals continued, “We cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding the sanctions it did in this case or that the amount of sanctions awarded was unreasonable. The record supports the sanction imposed by the trial court, which was very close to the amount of attorney’s fees in the record.”
Background
In March 2008, Carrollton Presbyterian Church filed a civil lawsuit against the Presbytery of South Louisiana seeking a declaratory judgment that it owned its property, free and clear of the presbytery.
The church had been in the process of selling its property to its contiguous neighbor, The Stuart Hall School for Boys, when the presbytery tried to block the sale by asserting that the denomination – not the church – owned the property. The court ruled in favor of the local church, as did the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal. Both the Louisiana Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case when the presbytery filed appeals.
According to court documents, the presbytery spent more than $500,000 opposing Carrollton’s sale of its property – valued at less than $1 million.
‘No way for the PSL to prevail’
In the original ruling, Judge Kay Bates of the 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge in Louisiana, ordered the presbytery to pay the legal expenses accrued by the congregation in defending itself against the presbytery’s claims on its property.
Bates said, in her order, that Mark Tammen, who at that time was the director of Constitutional Services with the PCUSA Office of the General Assembly, “bluntly informed” the presbytery that he saw “no way for the PSL to prevail.” The court order continued that even the presbytery’s own corporate representatives, during depositions, acknowledged that “Carrollton continued to have the right to sell the property at issue without PSL permission.”
However, the presbytery continued to oppose the church, she wrote, and also quoted a Jan. 28, 2009, email where the presbytery’s lead New Orleans attorney “confided to some of his collaborators, ‘One must wonder whether Carrollton is prepared to go to the expense of litigating this case.’”
In her order, Bates wrote that “As a result of the PSL’s unreasonable intransigence Carrollton was forced to needlessly spend $336,000 in fees and expenses in pursuing recognition and enforcement of its property right.”
What happened during this “unfortunate litigation,” wrote Bates, was a “profoundly disturbing display of disdain for the rule of law and the judiciary. Multiple orders of this court were knowingly and contumaciously violated.”
Calls to Presbyterian Church (USA) officials for comments on this story have not been returned.
Case timeline and related articles:
October 2012: David fells Goliath again
February 2012: Presbytery denied state Supreme Court hearing in Carrollton property dispute
September 2011: Court rules trust clause negated and state trust laws must be followed
April 2011: Carrollton case has bearing on all former southern PCUS congregations in PCUSA
January 2010: Presbytery appeals decision
December 2009: Carrollton church wins Declaratory Judgment and Permanent Injunction
December 2009: Presbytery forced to release documents
October 2009: Expenses mount
October 2009: Presbytery found in contempt of court
September 2009: Judge orders presbytery to back off
August 2009: Judge issues ‘written reasons’ favoring Carrollton
September 2008: Presbytery votes to aggressively pursue churches contemplating leaving
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“Calls to Presbyterian Church (USA) officials for comments on this story have not been returned”
Oh surprise surprise, besides they’re too busy celebrating their “2015 SODOMY VICTORY TOUR”
A basic concept of conflict and battle, and this is what it is when the PCUSA chooses to persecute and oppress people of faith. Is that you do not fight your opponent on ground or the day of his choosing. You do so on yours. Also hit them at their center of gravity or nexus, to use a term of General Eisenhower. For the PCUSA their sole motivation to engage in such battles is spelled m-o-n-e-y. Also a lust for power and simple ego. You deprive then of that, or inflict loss on that axis, the enemy will quit or seek terms.
It is unfortunate in these cases for those involved to seek restitution in the civil courts, by the PCUSA chose and brought this upon themselves, not the people of faith. And at times there is a price to be paid for such hubris. The Bible is full of such examples of imperial over reach.
The Presbytery of South Louisiana (PSL) has been losing members every year for more than a decade. Its membership has declined from more than 12,000 to about 5,300 today. I hope the Presbytery has the money in the bank to pay this judgment. If it does not, then a special assessment of about $90 per member will be required to raise the funds.
The PSL seems to have gotten itself into this financial predicament because of its covetousness.
you know what, let louisville pay it, it’s their bill to begin with.
The injustice of a liberal self perpetuating minority enjoying majority control in the PCUSA’s governing bodies has caused a blindness to justice that has been exposed to the light of day by the Louisiana courts. Unfortunately the hubris of this power laden group has only been enlivened by recent events related to marriage. We serve a risen savior who calls us to change the world instead we sue each other and offend our global partners in the gospel. When will it stop and the gospel be set free?
It’s just a shame that some states enforce the trust provision, allowing the denomination to extort money in exchange for the right to leave it behind. That is manifest injustice. It’s also a shame that some of the departing churches don’t just hand over the keys to their presbyteries, and go and buy land and build something better. The presbytery wouldn’t always come out better off for receiving title to existing church plants. My own church (which isn’t leaving, more’s the pity) looks like a fire station and was not built to last, though the land would be worth something.