Judge bars presbytery from taking any action against property, leaders of First Baton Rouge
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, September 15, 2006
A state district judge has granted a preliminary injunction sought by the trustees of First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge that bars the Presbytery of South Louisiana or any other denominational entity from taking any action against the congregation’s leaders or attempting to take over its property.
The preliminary injunction order was signed Sept. 14 by 19th Judicial District Judge Timothy Kelley, who previously had signed a temporary restraining order at the request of the trustees.
The injunction will be in effect pending the outcome of a case in which the congregation’s trustees are asking a state district court to declare that it, and not the Presbyterian Church (USA), owns the congregation’s property. The injunction was “stipulated,” submitted to the court by counsel for the church and the presbytery as being mutually acceptable.
In their request for a declaratory judgment on the congregation’s property, the trustees are asking the court to rule that the congregation’s property “is held without trust for the use and benefit of the PCUSA or other national denomination, or any of its regional administrative units such as the Presbytery of South Louisiana” and that “neither the PCUSA nor any of its regional administrative units such as the Presbytery of South Louisiana has any right, title or interest in said property nor right to determine the ownership thereof.”
The injunction signed Sept. 14 says that it “shall be effective against the Presbytery of South Louisiana, its officers, agents, employees, and counsel, and any persons in active concert or participation with it, on its behalf or in its stead, enjoining the Presbytery of South Louisiana from filing any documents in the mortgage and conveyance records of East Baton Rouge Parish to assert ownership, or rights to determine ownership, to any property titled in the name of the First Presbyterian Church of the City of Baton Rouge or to assert a trust on behalf of the Presbytery of South Louisiana or other third party over property titled in the name of the First Presbyterian Church of the City of Baton Rouge, the effect of which would be to place a cloud on the title of said property, or otherwise take any action to claim ownership of local church property, or a right to determine ownership of local church property, in the possession of, control of, or owned by First Presbyterian Church of the City of Baton Rouge.”
“It is further ordered that the Presbytery of South Louisiana, and any persons in active concert or participation with it, on its behalf or in its stead, is enjoined from taking any action that could affect the property and rights of the First Presbyterian Church of the City of Baton Rouge, including but not limited to:
1) seeking to change the locks of First Presbyterian Church;
2) initiating any disciplinary action against the ministers or members;
3) appointing or initiating processes leading to the appointment of an administrative commission to assert original jurisdiction over the First Presbyterian Church of the City of Baton Rouge;
4) otherwise interfering with the normal duties and responsibilities of the ministers and other employees of the First Presbyterian Church of the City of Baton Rouge, the governing body of said local church (the “session”), or the board of trustees, the governing body of the local church corporation.”