Church looks for victory in assets ruling

St. James Church appeared to be on the verge of a legal victory

Thursday after a judge issued a tentative ruling to dismiss a claim

that the church’s property belongs to the national Episcopal Church.

Because Judge David Velasquez’s ruling is tentative, it can be

reversed when the case goes back to court Monday in Santa Ana,

attorney Eric Sohlgren said. Sohlgren is the lead attorney for St.

James Church.

Diocese spokeswoman Janet Kawamoto had no immediate comment

Thursday. Attorneys representing the diocese could not be reached.

Velasquez is not obligated to issue any ruling Monday, Sohlgren

said. The purpose of a tentative ruling is to help attorneys prepare

legal arguments for future hearings.

“There were many hours of oral argument today, and that will

continue Monday,” he said.

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles filed suit against St. James

in September 2004 after the Newport Beach church and two other

Southern California congregations broke away from the diocese and the

Episcopal Church of the United States in protest of the national

church’s liberal positions on Biblical authority, the divinity of

Jesus Christ and homosexual marriage.

After leaving the national church, St. James affiliated with the

Diocese of Luwero in the Anglican province of Uganda, Africa. The Los

Angeles diocese’s lawsuit alleged St. James’ property belongs to the

national church, not the Via Lido congregation.

If Velasquez issues a final ruling consistent with the tentative

one, Sohlgren said St. James will be able to maintain ownership of

the church’s building, hymnals, vestments and all other property.

Sohlgren argued that the diocese’s case was not about property but

actually an attempt to stifle St. James’ free speech after it left

the diocese in protest of the national church’s doctrinal stances.

“Because the steps taken by the defendants to disassociate

themselves from the religious views of the Church constitute acts in

furtherance of the exercise of defendants’ right to free speech on a

matter of public interest, the complaint is subject to a special

motion to strike,” Velasquez wrote in his tentative ruling.

Sohlgren said the church also contended the Newport congregation

would have ultimately prevailed in the lawsuit. In the tentative

ruling, Velasquez wrote the diocese had not shown that it would

probably win the lawsuit on the merits of the case. Velasquez wrote

that the diocese’s argument is not based on California law. Instead,

the diocese argued the court must defer to church law.

If Velasquez’s final ruling favors St. James, the church’s legal

issues will not be over, Sohlgren said. A countersuit filed by St.

James in June would still be alive. In that suit, the church claimed

the diocese breached a contract in which the diocese issued a written

pledge to not try to take St. James’ property.