LOS ANGELES: Newport Beach breakaway congregation again asks California Supreme Court to hear property claim
Episcopal News Service. May 10, 2010 [051010-04]
ENS staff
Attorneys for a Newport Beach breakaway congregation on May 4 petitioned the California Supreme Court a third time in an effort to be declared the owner of church real property and other assets.
St. James' Anglican Church had 30 days to respond to a lower appellate court ruling that reaffirmed, two to one, that the property is held in trust by the Diocese of Los Angeles and the wider Episcopal Church.
The California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Third Division, on March 26 had instructed the trial court to enter an order enforcing the interests of the Episcopal Church and the diocese in the real property and other assets claimed by the congregation, which broke away in 2004.
"We believe, as did the Court of Appeal, that the California Supreme Court has ruled conclusively on who owns the property in question," said John Shiner, diocesan chancellor, in a May 6 telephone interview from his office. "That decision indicated that the property belonged to the Diocese of Los Angeles.
"It's disappointing that this matter still continues when the California Supreme Court has ruled decisively in our favor," Shiner added.
Eric Sohlgren, an attorney for St. James, did not respond to ENS requests for an interview May 6. But in a statement posted on the church website, he said: "St. James has followed a steady course since this lawsuit was first filed against them and its church volunteers.
"The reason is that the principles at stake go to the very heart of what Americans hold dear—the right to own property without outside interference and the right to freely exercise one's religion regardless of belief or faith group," he wrote.
The nearly five-year legal battle began after a majority of St. James' members voted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church. They realigned themselves with the Anglican Province of Uganda in August 2004, citing theological disagreements and the consecration of an openly gay Episcopal Church bishop. They sought to retain the Newport Beach property.
A year after the disaffiliation, Orange County Superior Judge David C. Velasquez ruled the congregation owned the property free of any interest by the diocese or the Episcopal Church. The California Court of Appeal reversed the lower court ruling in July 2007, holding that the rules of the church required that parish property be used for the mission of the diocese and the wider church.
After the state Supreme Court upheld that ruling in January 2009, St. James' petitioned the court a second time, asking for a modification or review of the decision. In October of the same year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Earlier in 2009 the trial court declined to enter a final judgment for the Episcopal Church and the diocese in the case.
In November 2009 the case returned to the appellate court, which issued the March 2010 ruling.