Presbyterian Church Loses Malpractice Claim Appeal Against Lawyers In Property Dispute

In Eastminster Presbytery v. Stark & Knoll, (OH App., March 7, 2012), an Ohio appeals court dismissed a malpractice claim brought against a law firm by a local Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA after the Presbytery lost its claim that property of a break-away congregation was held in trust for PCUSA. The Presbytery argued that had counsel included a complete and properly authenticated copy of the PCUSA 1981 Book of Order as an exhibit in support of its motion for summary judgment, it would have prevailed in the underlying case. The court of appeals agreed with the trial court that even if a copy of the Book of Order had been properly provided to the court, it would not have changed the result in the case. Despite provisions in the Book of Order stating that church property is held for the benefit of PCUSA, the break-away congregation "did not indicate by words or acts that it intended by its voluntary association with the PCUSA to create a trust over its property." The court also held that the 1st Amendment permits it to apply neutral principles of law to resolve the property dispute and does not require a court to defer to ecclesiastical documents of the parent denomination.