Mississippi Supreme Court Rules In Challenge By Members of Church Damaged By Katrina

In Schmidt v. Catholic Diocese of Biloxi, (MS Sup. Ct., Sept. 17, 2009), members of St. Paul Catholic Church in Pass Christian, Mississippi brought suit after the diocese effectively closed the church that had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina and merged the parish into a newly created one. In this decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that plaintiffs lack standing to assert that St. Paul's property was held in trust for them. However, it held that the courts do have jurisdiction over claims that Church funds were improperly diverted and that one of the defendants, a priest, made intentional misrepresentations in soliciting funds for the rebuilding of St. Paul's. A concurring opinion by Justice Randolph, joined in part by Justice Pierce, concluded that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine removes jurisdiction from courts over whether or not St. Paul's property was held in trust. (See prior related posting.)