Church lawyer: Dismiss lawsuit

Deepa Bharath

The attorney for three churches that seceded from the national

Episcopal Church, including one on Via Lido, has asked a court to

dismiss a lawsuit filed last month by the Episcopal Diocese of Los

Angeles, arguing the diocese’s property claims have no legal basis.

St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints’ in Long Beach and

St. David’s in North Hollywood seceded from the Episcopal Church of

the United States in August because they did not agree with the

national church’s liberal views on homosexuality, the divinity of

Jesus Christ and the supremacy of the Bible.

The churches placed themselves under the Diocese of Luwero in the

Anglican Province of Uganda, Africa. The Episcopal Diocese of Los

Angeles filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against the

churches in September, stating that the church buildings and

surrounding property belong to the diocese.

Eric Sohlgren, attorney for the churches, said he filed what is

known as a “demurrer” Friday in response to the diocese’s lawsuit.

“Basically, a demurrer assumes all allegations made by the diocese in

their lawsuit are true and asks the question that even if everything

that’s alleged turns out to be true, is there a legal wrong here?”

Sohlgren said. “And our position is there’s no legal wrong.”

If the court grants the demurrer, the case will be over, he said.

Neither diocese officials nor their attorney, John Shiner, could

be reached for comment on Friday.

St. James administrators have maintained that the building and the

surrounding property belongs to The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of

St. James Parish, a nonprofit created in 1949. But Shiner said on a

previous occasion that the churches had no right to amend the

articles of incorporation without the permission of the diocese to

whom they had sworn to be faithful.

Sohlgren said his main argument is that the churches have the

right to govern their own business.

“Each of these churches is a separately incorporated nonprofit,”

he said.

Sohlgren has filed another motion asking the court to strike some

of the allegations made by the diocese, including the statement that

the Episcopal Church’s attitude to homosexuality is the central issue

in the move to secede.

“It’s an allegation made purely for political effect,” Sohlgren

said. “It wasn’t there for legal reasons.”

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 4 in Orange

County Superior Court.

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.