South Louisiana Presbytery
found in contempt of court
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman, October 26, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana’s 19th District Court has declared the Presbytery of South Louisiana (PSL) in contempt of court for refusing to obey the court’s order that it surrender specified documents to attorneys for the Carrollton Presbyterian Church of New Orleans.
Dated Sept. 22, the order required PSL to turn over any and all of its correspondence with the Synod of the Sun and others regarding the presbytery’s litigation with Carrollton. PSL attorneys were given six hours to comply with the order. “Failure to abide by this order may result in the party in violation being held in contempt and the imposition of penalties by this court,” the order said.
PSL refused to comply, stating that the documents in question were “attorney/client” or “work product” related and therefore “withheld” as “privileged” documents. But the court ruled that these privileges did not apply or had been waived by their circulation to others.
On Oct. 9, Carrollton attorneys filed a “motion for contempt and penalties,” citing the court’s Sept. 22 order and PSL’s continued refusal to comply. Judge Kay Bates ruled in favor of Carrollton’s motion on Oct. 22 and ordered the presbytery to reimburse Carrollton for all expenses it incurred in making and arguing the contempt motion.
According to a PSL document titled “Defendant’s Privilege Log,” the correspondence in question consists of 445 pieces of correspondence that were circulated by PSL attorneys to persons who are not parties, or who do not represent parties to PSL’s litigation with Carrollton.
The name of Mark Tammen, an attorney for the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Office of the General Assembly, is on 398 of the documents, suggesting the denomination’s heavy involvement in this case.
Other names that appear in the privilege 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 was retained by the PCUSA to file an amicus curiae brief before the California Supreme Court favoring denominational ownership of local church property.
According to AmericanLawyer.com, Weil Gotshal partners have represented the PCUSA for several years, “ever since Douglas Nave, a Weil partner and active Presbyterian based in London, began working with the church on various matters.”
Nave is a familiar name in PCUSA circles. As a board member of the Covenant Network in 2002 and later with Presbyterian Welcome, he advised sexually active homosexuals not to become vulnerable by openly defying the denomination’s ordination standards. Instead, he suggested that they redefine the standards by supplying their own meaning to words like “chastity,” “repentance,” and “self-acknowledged sins.” He suggested that one might say chastity simply means having sex “in a pure and holy way,” however the participant defines “pure and holy.”
Sanctions hearing on the horizon
PSL is fighting hard to keep its correspondence with the synod, General Assembly and the five Weil Gotshal attorneys under wraps. Faced with a new court order that it must surrender the documents by Oct. 26 or again be found in contempt, PSL attorneys have indicated their intent to ask the First Circuit Court of Appeal to review the order.
Meanwhile, pending before the 19th District Court is a Nov. 3 hearing on Carrollton’s motion that the court impose sanctions against PSL. The motion was filed partly due to the fact that Sept. 22 was not the first time that the presbytery “knowingly violated” a court order in this case.
On Feb. 13, Carrollton obtained a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to protect its leadership and property from hostile presbytery actions during the period of litigation. But an administrative commission of the Synod of the Sun, acting on behalf of PSL, knowingly violated that order by voting to dissolve the Carrollton church. The court subsequently ruled that vote null and void. Later, PSL’s executive presbyter admitted under oath that PSL had agreed with the synod to conceal its violation of the TRO for an undetermined time.
These hostile acts, in addition to a host of litigious initiatives by PSL that severely escalated Carrollton’s legal costs, and which Carrollton contends in its motion violated legal standards, prompted Carrollton to file the sanctions motion. Carrollton seeks monetary and other relief, including the reimbursement of a substantial portion of its attorney’s fees and expenses incurred since Feb. 23.
Carrollton’s legal expenses have not yet been revealed, but the PSL has spent approximately $244,000 through August (the latest figures available) in actions against this 20-member congregation, which has shown no signs of being intimidated.