Court Finds That Church Trustee Breached Duty In Conveying Property

In Garmon v. Reynolds, (IN App., March 31, 2010), an Indiana appellate court resolved a dispute over whether the son of the founding pastor of the Zion Temple Apostolic Church validly conveyed certain parcels of church property to a privately held trust. The appellate court agreed with the trial court that while Kenneth Garmon is the sole surviving trustee of Church, he breached his fiduciary duty when he voluntarily left Church to attend a different church for nearly a year after his father's death, and attempted to convey the disputed property to a privately-held trust corporation over which the congregation would have no control. The court also rejected the claim that the First Amendment precluded it from asserting jurisdiction. In its view, the case did not concern extensive ecclesiastical matters or require interpretation of church doctrines.