“Far from over”: CA Supreme Court takes case in property fight

June 14, 2010

The California Supreme Court has agreed to review a property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and a breakaway traditional Anglican parish in Newport Beach.

In August of 2004, St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach cut ties with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the Episcopal Church, USA, “over theological differences involving the authority of Holy Scripture and the Lordship of Jesus Christ,” according to a history of the dispute posted on the parish’s website. The diocese then sued St. James and two other Southern California breakaway parishes, asserting that parish property belonged to the Episcopal Church, not the parishes. The Episcopal Church, USA, later joined the diocese in the lawsuits.

“In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court agreed today to hear St. James Anglican Church's appeal that it has a constitutional right to continue its property rights battle against the Episcopal Church,” said a June 9 news release from St. James parish. “By granting the St. James petition, the Court has acknowledged that this property rights dispute is far from over as the Episcopal Church has claimed, and that the Court must decide whether a defendant can be deprived of its property before it has had the opportunity to defend itself with evidence in a court of law.”

The California Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in an appeal by St. James of a 2-1 ruling in March by the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal in favor of the Episcopal Church and against the parish. In his dissent, Justice Richard D. Fybel called the majority’s decision "revolutionary," "unprecedented" and "without any basis in law," said the St. James news release. the rest