Injunction issued in Mississippi church property case; attorney hopes to resolve ownership issue next month
By Patrick Jean, January 19, 2007
First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg and the Presbytery of Mississippi have agreed to a stipulated preliminary injunction in their court case over who owns the church’s property.
Both sides are due to return to court in April for a hearing on a final declaratory judgment, but the case could be resolved as early as next month, officials said.
First Presbyterian filed a petition for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and declaratory judgment Jan. 4 in Warren County Chancery Court. The church is seeking clear title to its property without interference by the presbytery or the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The stipulated preliminary injunction was signed Jan. 16 by court Chancellor Vicki R. Barnes. The presbytery agreed:
- Not to file documents “in the mortgage and conveyance records of Warren County to assert ownership, or right to determine ownership to any property titled in the name of First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg, Mississippi, or its trustees.”
- Not to “assert a trust interest on behalf of the Presbytery of Mississippi over property titled in the name of First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg, Mississippi, or its trustees.”
- Not to “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 Vicksburg, Mississippi, or its trustees.”
The church is represented by attorneys Blake Teller and Jim Chaney, who also are elders of the church. Teller said he, Chaney and Wayne Dowdy, the presbytery’s attorney, have not been at odds over the ownership issue.
“I don’t think there’s any serious question as to our title,” he said.
First Presbyterian leaders believe their 177-year-old church is exempt from any property dispute with the 24-year-old PCUSA, Teller said.
The Vicksburg case is the second civil-court test of a new Mississippi Presbytery policy, adopted Nov. 30, not to “resist any particular church of the Presbytery of Mississippi which would ask the courts of the State of Mississippi to clear its property of any claims made by higher governing bodies against that property.”
The first case was brought Dec. 7, when J.J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church in McComb initiated court action seeking clear title to its property without interference by the presbytery or the PCUSA. On Dec. 15, Pike County Chancery Court Chancellor Deborah K. Halford signed a stipulated preliminary injunction that prevented the presbytery from staking a claim on J.J. White’s property.
Stewart Robison, an attorney for J.J. White and an elder of the church, has asked to be placed on the agenda at the presbytery’s stated meeting Feb. 24 at Handsboro Presbyterian Church in Gulfport. He plans to ask the presbytery to withdraw its contested pleadings, clearing the way for a final declaratory judgment giving J.J. White title to its property.
Teller said he also wants to be on the agenda at the Feb. 24 presbytery meeting, to make a similar request in the First Presbyterian case.
If the presbytery disagrees in each case, the J.J. White case returns to court April 4 and the First Presbyterian case returns to court April 17. But Robison expects an amicable resolution, as does Teller.
“At this point in time, we continue to think it will be worked out at the presbytery level and the case will be moot,” Teller said.
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman Online. He can be reached at pjean@layman.org.