Korean congregation reaches settlement with presbytery in church property case
The Layman Online, August 4, 2006
A Korean congregation that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) and went to court to prohibit the presbytery from seizing the church property has reached a settlement in the case.
The settlement was announced in a statement released by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, the Presbytery of Hanmi, Serone Church, the Rev. Taek Ho Yang, and elders Fred Yu and Stephan Park. Paul Rolf Jensen, an attorney representing Serone Church, provided a copy of the statement to The Layman Online. It reads as follows:
“The parties to the Serone Church litigation are pleased to announce that they have reached a global, mutually agreeable but confidential settlement. Rev. Yang, Elders Yu and Park may, in the future, choose a new path. If they do, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Hanmi Presbytery wish them all of God’s blessings in their continuing ministry in His service. The parties have agreed to not comment further than this.”
The Serone congregation had argued in court that California state law, as recently interpreted in an appellate court ruling in a United Methodist Church case, gave the congregation the right to retain its property. The Hamni Presbytery’s administrative commission staked its claim to the property in accordance with a property trust clause in the PCUSA Constitution.
In their attempt to claim the Serone Church property, denominational attorneys not only filed lawsuits against the church, but individual lawsuits against the pastor and each member of the session. That action forced the pastor and elders to retain attorneys at their personal expense, in addition to retaining Jensen, who represented the church.