Diocese Challenge To Charter School's Leasing of Catholic High School Property Moves Ahead

In Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Christ the King Regional High School, (NY Queens Co. Sup. Ct., Aug. 21, 2014), a New York state trial court denied a Catholic high school's motion to dismiss a declaratory judgment action filed against it by the Brooklyn Diocese challenging its decision to lease a substantial portion of its property to a non-sectarian charter middle school. In 1976 the Diocese conveyed the school property to the educational corporation that operated the Catholic high school on the condition that the property would be reconveyed to the Diocese if it ceased to be used for a Catholic high school. While under New York property law failure to record the condition extinguished it as a possibility of reverter, the court held that the restriction is still enforceable as a matter of contract law.