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Last Trial Court Decision Issued In Virginia Episcopal Church Litigation

By Howard M. Friedman

In ema href="http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/courts/cases/in_re_multi-circuit_episcopal_church_litigation/pdfs/opinion_remaining_57-9_issues.pdf"In Re: Multi-Circuit Episcopal Church Property Litigation/a/em, (VA Cir. Ct., Dec. 19, 2008), a Virginia state trial judge issued a letter opinion deciding the remaining eight issues outstanding in the elaborate litigation involving eleven break away Episcopal (now Anglican) congregations which are seeking to retain control of their church buildings and property. The churches filed petitions under Virginia's "a href="http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+57-9"Division Statute/a" seeking adjudication of their ownership of various properties. The decisions handed down in this latest opinion, with one exception, reaffirm prior holdings that the properties belong to the congregations, not to the Episcopal Church USA and the Diocese. However the court did hold that ownership of a Falls Church endowment fund that was in dispute was not covered by the the congregation's petition under the Division Statute, and adjudication of its ownership would be decided in a pending declaratory judgment action.br /br /a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103915_ENG_HTM.htm"Episcopal News Service/a, the a href="http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081219/breakaway-anglican-parishes-win-lawsuit-over-property.htm"Christian Post/a, and a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hpOXgHjPxhwsDgnk33vT0I2MRaxAD9561RV80"AP/a report on the decision, and indicate that an appeal is likely. (See a href="http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2008/08/virginia-episcopal-diocese-loses-on-two.html"prior related posting/a.) Links to all the extensive pleadings and opinions in the litigation are available from the a href="http://www.thediocese.net/News_services/property.shtml"website/a of the Diocese of Virginia.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 20, 2008 (boomark / email).