Summary
The Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals reviewed a dispute between two factions of the Little Ettie Old Regular Baptist Church concerning control and use of church real and personal property. The court held that competent, credible evidence supported the trial court’s determination that two congregations were equally entitled to the property and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by imposing mutual permanent injunctions. The opinion discusses ecclesiastical abstention and the limits of civil-court jurisdiction over church disputes.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the trial court's determination that two congregations were equally entitled to ownership, possession, and use of the church's real and personal property was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
- Whether the trial court abused its discretion by converting the interim access and expense-sharing arrangement into a permanent injunction benefiting both factions.
- Whether the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine deprived the civil courts of subject-matter jurisdiction over the intra-church dispute.
Holdings
- The trial court did not clearly lose its way in finding that two congregations equally owned and occupied the church's real and personal property; competent, credible evidence supported that determination.
- The trial court did not abuse its discretion by permanently enjoining both factions from disposing of church property without the other's written approval and by allocating alternating access, occupancy, use, maintenance, and expense responsibilities.
- The majority declined to disturb the trial court's resolution of the property and injunction dispute and affirmed the judgment, treating the matter as one that could be resolved through review of the church's governance practices and secular property interests.
Key quotations
“It is well established that civil courts lack jurisdiction to hear or determine purely ecclesiastical or spiritual disputes of a church or religious organization.” (¶ 18)
“In the congregational form, each local congregation is self-governing.” (¶ 20)
“We find nothing whatsoever to connote an unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable attitude on the part of the trial court.” (¶ 45)
Factual background
The Little Ettie Old Regular Baptist Church was founded as an unincorporated, self-governing congregational association and held real estate, a cemetery, personal property, and funds in trust. The factions disagreed over women's voting rights, continued participation in the New Salem Association, membership, and control of the church. One faction held an unnoticed meeting in a private home and attempted to remove or exclude members, while the other faction placed chains on the church doors, leading to competing claims of control and possession. The church had no written constitution or bylaws, and the trial court found that the challenged meetings did not comply with the church's historical practices.
Procedural history
Trustees and members of the Little Ettie Old Regular Baptist Church sued other church members over control of church property, membership, church funds, and competing factional actions. The trial court denied an initial ex parte temporary restraining order, entered an interim order dividing access and expenses, partially granted and denied summary judgment, denied both parties' contempt motions, and later entered a final judgment finding two equally entitled congregations and converting the interim arrangement into a permanent injunction. A prior appeal from a partial judgment entry was dismissed for lack of a final appealable order; the defendants then timely appealed the July 5, 2016 final judgment.