MI Court Remands Property Dispute For Finding On Heirarchical Nature of Church

In Leach v. Johnson, (MI Ct. App., July 19, 2007), a Michigan state court of appeals remanded to the trial court a dispute over who owns the property of the Gospel Lighthouse congregation in Warren, Michigan. The congregation had broken away from the Assemblies of God denomination. The appellate court held that the trial court must determine whether or not the church's organization is hierarchical as a prerequisite to deciding whether the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine deprives civil courts of jurisdiction in the case.