Okla. Presbytery wants Kirk
to pay $2.4 million in rent
By John H. Adams, The Layman, September 30, 2008
The Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma has asked a district court judge to require the Kirk of the Hills Evangelical Presbyterian Church to pay $2.4 million in rent for the two years the congregation has continued to meet at the facilities during the course of the trial.
That request is part of a court filing that interprets Judge Jefferson D. Sellers’ ruling on Sept. 9 in a summary judgment favoring the presbytery. Sellers did not spell out any financial settlements in his ruling, but he did declare that the Presbyterian Church (USA) owns the property because of the denomination’s trust clause (Chapter 8 in the Book of Order).
The presbytery’s filing said, “Collateral issues remain, however. For example, now that the Court ruled that the property belongs to the EOP and the PCUSA, there is the matter of the damages/rental owed the Defendants for the Plaintiff’s two-year use and occupancy of the property.”
A footnote to that statement said the rental fee “is a substantial claim. Here, the church is approximately 100,000 sq. ft. with a parking garage in a prime Tulsa location. Moreover, the facility is in excellent shape and completely furnished. If the rental rate for land, building and furnishings was calculated at $12 per square foot (which would be below the commercial rate in the area for Class A space), the annual rental would be $1,200,000. Thus, the past due rental of the subject space with furnishings for the relevant two-year period would be in the neighborhood of $2.4 million.”
The congregation of the Kirk of the Hills voted 967-36 in 2006 to leave the PCUSA and affiliate with the EPC. It also filed a suit against the presbytery asking the district court to award the property to the congregation through a quiet title. The suit argued that the congregation paid for the property and was entitled to own it. At the beginning of that case, the court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the presbytery from taking over the property.
The execution of the Sept. 9 summary judgment by Judge Jefferson D. Sellers has been delayed until Oct. 6, when there will be a hearing on the final wording of that judgment. Attorneys for Kirk of the Hills say the case will be appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
The presbytery’s response seeking compensation was dated Sept. 25. Besides rent, the presbytery seeks to gain control of its financial assets when the suit was filed in 2006. It noted that Kirk of the Hills had $52,218.09 in one bank account at that time. It also said the Kirk has taken steps since Sellers’ Sept. 9 ruling to make the Kirk “judgment-proof.”
Those steps, which were announced on the Kirk’s Web site, include the formation of a new corporation to accept gifts, the Joppa Corp., and the discontinuance of gifts by credit card and bank draft.
The presbytery also wants the Kirk to pay its legal costs.