In
Kelley v. Garuda, (Nassau Cty. NY Sup. Ct., Oct. 2, 2017), a New York trial court, deferring to resolutions passed by the Governing Body Commission of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness ("GBC") and applying neutral principles of law, resolved a factional theological split within the Freeport, New York ISKCON Temple. The court upheld a default judgment against defendants who had taken control of the Temple, saying in part:
Plaintiffs' purchased the property well before the Defendants' arrival and interference with the Plaintiffs' use and enjoyment of the property. Prior to the 2005 "election" where Gupta and his adherents purportedly changed the leadership of the Freeport Temple, the Plaintiffs sufficiently established that all financial and ecclesiastical issues regarding the Freeport Temple were decided and/or approved by the GBC or its chosen delegates....
Further evidence of the Plaintiffs' ownership and control over the Freeport Temple is their constitution, the ISKCON Law Book, which creates an express trust in favor of the Society at large under the control of the GBC....
The Founder also established a Trust in the second Article of his Will which declared that each ISKCON temple would be held for the benefit of the ISKCON Society at large. The language of the Trust provision specifies that the GBC would continue to manage the ISKCON Society in perpetuity.
