David fells Goliath … again
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman, October 9, 2012
Case timeline and related articles:
February 2012: Presbytery denied state Supreme Court hearing in Carrollton property dispute
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: 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
The U.S. Supreme Court has turned thumbs down on a South Louisiana Presbytery petition for a writ of certiorari, effectively demolishing the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s attempt to unilaterally impose a trust on one of its Louisiana congregations. With the denial, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision affirming the trial judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the 20-member Carrollton Presbyterian Church in New Orleans has become final.
A long string of losses
The Supreme Court action represents the latest defeat in a long string of court losses for the presbytery. The state district court ruled for Carrollton on summary judgment, without need of a trial. The state court of appeal unanimously affirmed that ruling, declaring that no valid and enforceable trust could exist merely on the basis of a trust clause in the PCUSA Book of Order without there also being compliance with regular state law. The state court of appeal also held that the exemption clause in the PCUSA Book of Order “negates” the trust clause found in that same document. The court observed that if a congregation exercised its exemption, affirming its right to dispose of its property without presbytery permission, the denomination could not claim an enforceable trust on that same property.
Egged on by synod and General Assembly officials, the presbytery sought rehearing by the state court of appeal, but was unanimously rejected. Then it tried to get the state supreme court to hear the case, but that was also unanimously rejected. Hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the presbytery made one final attempt to reverse its losses by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. The court turned aside South Louisiana’s last ditch effort.
Contempt of court
During the course of the long proceedings, the presbytery was ordered to turn over to Carrollton’s attorneys sensitive documents in its case against the tiny congregation. The presbytery failed to comply and was found in contempt of court.
Most of the documents, now in the hands of the court, were temporarily sealed, but one that was not sealed, a summary log, reveals the extent to which denominational officials allied themselves with the presbytery in its attempt to confiscate Carrollton’s property. That log lists 445 pieces of correspondence that were circulated by the presbytery attorneys to persons who were not parties, or who did not represent parties to the presbytery’s litigation with Carrollton. The name of Mark Tammen, a former attorney for the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Office of the General Assembly, appears on 398 of the documents, suggesting the denomination’s heavy involvement in this case.
Other names that appear in the documents log include Judy Fletcher, executive of the Synod of the Sun, and five attorneys with Weil Gotshal, a 1,300-member firm based in New York that has assisted the General Assembly in its attempt to seize local church property in several states.
One more pebble in the sling
Louisiana’s now victorious David has yet one more pebble to sling toward Goliath, a motion calling for sanctions to be imposed against the presbytery. That motion seeks the reimbursement of several hundred thousand dollars in costs that Carrollton says it had to needlessly incur in order to counter bad faith, frivolous arguments made by the presbytery. Already reeling from its own legal bills, and without much prospect that a financially strapped Office of the General Assembly can bail it out, South Louisiana Presbytery may well find itself in the red.