Ruling awards $81K to church

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that the

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles must pay more than $81,000 in legal

fees to St. James Church, the Newport Beach congregation that split

from the diocese over a dispute about church doctrine.

The same judge, David Velasquez, ruled Aug. 15 to dismiss a

lawsuit against St. James Church’s congregation that claimed the

Newport Beach breakaway church’s property and assets belong to the

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

Velasquez ruled that efforts by the national church to retain the

property of the seceding St. James congregation was an attempt to

tread upon the congregation’s freedom of speech.

Praveen Bunyan, pastor of St. James, said the awarding of legal

fees is another affirmation that the St. James Church was right from

the beginning.

“This is a reiteration saying that the lawsuit was wrongfully

brought against us,” Bunyan said.

Representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles did not

return phone calls Friday.

Financially, Judge Velasquez’s ruling Thursday means that the

church can apply funds toward “God’s mission,” Bunyan said.

“We’re glad that we can continue to concentrate on the mission

that we believe as a church we are called to do,” Bunyan 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 positions.

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 to the congregation.

Although St. James Church is pleased with the awarding of legal

fees, the church remains skeptical that the diocese will pay the

legal fees without first appealing the decision, said St. James

attorney Eric Sohlgren, in a statement released Thursday.

“I don’t know whether they will appeal,” Bunyan said. “Of course,

we’ll continue to fight for what is ours.”