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Three Anglican Churches File Responses to Lawsuits by Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Oct. 8, 2004 –Attorneys for three Anglican churches in Southern California filed responses today in the Orange County and Los Angeles Superior Courts seeking to dismiss the lawsuits brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. The diocese is trying to confiscate the property and financial assets of St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints’ Church in Long Beach, and St. David’s Church in North Hollywood, which recently discontinued their affiliation with the Episcopal Church USA and aligned with the Anglican Province of Uganda.
Eric C. Sohlgren, spokesperson for the legal team representing the churches, said: “Despite the hyperbole about Episcopal rules and bishops, these lawsuits are really an arrogant attempt by one California corporation to grab property held and paid for by three separate, independent California religious corporations and their members. The churches’ responses simply ask the courts to apply well-established California property law and find that the diocese has no case.”
There are two parts to the responses. First, the demurrer states that even if the allegations in the lawsuits were true, the churches’ actions were not illegal. The demurrer claims that the lawsuits by the diocese are legally defective because they fail to state facts sufficient to constitute legal causes of action.
The second motion seeks to strike allegations that are irrelevant or improper to any legal claim. For example, the lawsuits include numerous allegations detailing the Episcopal Church’s current crisis regarding its theology, including the place of active homosexuals in the ministry. Such allegations are irrelevant to any legal claim and are designed to wrongfully smear the churches and other defendants as homophobic. Repeated references to religious oaths, internal church rules, relationships and rituals of the Episcopal denomination also should be stricken, the responses argue.
The lawsuits allege that Bishop Jon Bruno and his diocese – along with a handful of disgruntled congregants – “are the rightful owners of all personal property that belonged to the Parish prior to its purported disaffiliation including, but not limited to, church funds, assets, investments, intellectual property, and non-fixtures, such as bibles, chalices, and other articles pertaining to worship.” In actuality, the property of the three churches is and has always been owned by the separate church corporations.
Not only do the lawsuits seek to take all of the churches’ real and personal property – down to the last hymnal and church school coloring book – but are also designed to exact an enormous financial toll on the individuals who lead and attend the churches. The plaintiffs have betrayed their true intent by naming the churches’ volunteer directors and wrongfully seeking punitive damages from them and the corporations. The responses filed today argue that volunteer directors of a non-profit corporation are shielded from liability by federal and state laws.
Eric C. Sohlgren is the legal spokesperson for St. James, All Saints’ and St. David’s Anglican Churches
