A.S. Haley: Texas Supreme Court to Hear San Angelo Case

December 16, 2011

In an announcement released this morning, the Supreme Court of Texas has granted the petition for review filed by the Church of the Good Shepherd, San Angelo, as a result of its loss in the Court of Appeal to the Diocese of Northwest Texas. (I discussed that opinion in this earlier post; the page summarizing the litigation is here.) Oral argument is set for February 29, 2012 at Texas A & M University, in Laredo, beginning at 9 A.M.

 

 

This is an important milestone for the law of church property in Texas. The last time the Supreme Court decided such a case was in 1909; the San Angelo case will provide an ideal vehicle with which to hold that Texas courts must follow and apply "neutral principles of law" in such cases. (One reason for granting review was that the Court of Appeal had left it up to the lower courts whether to apply neutral principles or not, and remain with the old "deference" standard of Watson v. Jones. For more explanation of the background here, read this post, and then this one.)  the rest