Carrollton ‘will prevail’ in suit against presbytery
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman, September 1, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court has issued “written reasons” underlying its judgment that the Carrollton Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, La., “will prevail” in its property related lawsuit against the Presbytery of South Louisiana. The document was signed by Judge Kay Bates and filed on Aug. 18.
Until her preliminary injunction order is filed, a temporary restraining order remains in effect, protecting the New Orleans congregation from hostile actions by the presbytery or its collaborator, an administrative commission from the Synod of the Sun that has intervened in this case on behalf of and in the name of the presbytery.
“Carrollton has made a prima facie showing that it will prevail on the merits of this suit,” Judge Bates said. “The law and evidence in this case strongly suggest that there is no legally cognizable trust impressing Carrollton’s property, despite the PSL’s [Presbytery of South Louisiana] suggestion to the contrary.”
Presbytery’s property grab
Asserting that a “trust clause” in the Book of Order, the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), encumbers local church property, PSL laid claim to land and buildings owned by Carrollton. The church’s members objected, noting the fact that their congregation, the registered property owner, had never consented to placing its property in trust for the benefit of any other entity.
Applying neutral principles of law to the dispute, Judge Bates ruled that “the unfettered right to dispose of all of one’s property is mutually exclusive of any right by a third party to dictate the disposition of that same property. … This is a classic example of a civil court exercising its jurisdiction to resolve a property dispute by applying neutral principles of law – without appealing to church doctrine,” she said.
A Southern church victory
Carrollton is a 150-year-old congregation that was part of the Presbyterian Church (US), the Southern stream of the Presbyterian Church that merged with the Northern stream in 1983. At the time of the merger, Northern stream churches lived under a constitution that required them to obtain presbytery permission before buying, selling or otherwise encumbering their property. PCUS churches had no such constitutional requirement.
One of the conditions placed on the merger agreement was that former PCUS churches would be allowed a window of eight years within which to declare an exemption (G-8.0701), opting out of the requirement that they obtain presbytery permission before disposing of their property. Numerous former PCUS congregations, including Carrollton, claimed that exemption, adding significant ramifications to the ruling by Judge Bates.
Exemption trumps trust
During court hearings, Carrollton argued successfully that the exemption provided under G-8.0701 leaves Carrollton under Section 6-8 of the former PCUS Book of Church Order. That section “recognizes Carrollton’s ability to buy, sell, or mortgage its property with only the approval of the congregation, without any permission being required by the presbytery, synod, or General Assembly.” Carrollton argued that its exemption from PSL’s permission guaranteed its “unfettered ownership.” Therefore, PSL’s imposition of a trust over Carrollton’s property cannot be valid.
U.S. Supreme Court ruling cited
A key consideration in the Louisiana case was the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595 (1979) to which both parties referred. PSL quoted language from Jones saying that once a denomination embodies trust clause language in its constitution, “civil courts will be bound to give effect to the result indicated by the parties.”
Carrollton responded that PSL had only cited part of the Jones decision. Jones states that civil courts are bound to honor a denominational trust clause “provided it is embodied in some legally cognizable form,” said Carrollton’s attorneys, quoting the full Jones text.
Judge Bates concluded: “That final qualifier, that the trust provision be embodied in some legally cognizable form, presents the critical question in this case and ultimately casts serious doubt on the PSL’s position.”
Only the owner can create a trust
The Louisiana judge then cited the Louisiana Trust Code’s minimal requirements for the formation of a legally enforceable trust. A trust can be asserted only by the owner of the property. “It must clearly appear that the creation of a trust is intended,” the court said. “A trustee must be either a natural person with capacity to contract or a bank or trust company organized under Louisiana federal law and domiciled in Louisiana.”
“As Carrollton has pointed out,” continued the court, “none of these requirements has been satisfied in the case at bar. In light of that fact, it is difficult for me to conclude that the language purporting to create a trust over Carrollton’s property is in any ‘legally cognizable form’ as Jones requires.”
More to come
The court’s written reasons for preliminary injunction having been issued, Carrollton v The Presbytery of South Louisiana now faces several follow-up court dates. The court has set Sept. 28 for arguments on Carrollton’s motion for summary judgment and Oct. 13 for trial on Carrollton’s petition for permanent injunction and declaratory judgment if its motion for summary judgment is not granted on Sept. 28.
Arguing the case for Carrollton are attorneys Lloyd Lunceford and Eugene Groves of Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, LLP. Lunceford has represented the property interests of several Louisiana congregations, and he has consulted or been retained by Presbyterian congregations in 12 states. He is editor of A Guide to Church Property Law: Theological, Constitutional and Practical Considerations, published by Reformation Press.