Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Inc. v. Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc.

11 FCDR 3618

11 FCDR 4008

290 Ga. 272

719 S.E.2d 446

PRESBYTERY OF GREATER ATLANTA, INC.

v.TIMBERRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, INC.

No. S11G0587.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 21, 2011.Reconsideration Denied Dec. 8, 2011.

Wilson, Morton & Downs, Decatur, Robert E. Wilson, Debra A. Golymbieski, for appellant.

Talley, French & Kendall, Conyers, Michael C. Kendall, Maureen E. Murphy, for appellee.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, Atlanta, David H. Gambrell, Linda A. Klein, John Hinton IV, Gallagher Sharp, Forrest A. Norman, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Christopher J. Cox, Alexander Fellowes, Bell & Brigham, Augusta, John C. Bell, Jr., Hull Barrett, David E. Hudson, Patrick J. Rice, McNatt, Greene & Peterson, Hugh B. McNatt, Tucker, Everitt, Long, Brewton & Lanier, Augusta, Thomas W. Tucker, John B. Long, A. Montague Miller, for amici curiae.NAHMIAS, Justice.

We granted certiorari in this case to consider whether the Court of Appeals correctly applied the “neutral principles of law” doctrine set forth in Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595, 602–606, 99 S.Ct. 3020, 61 L.Ed.2d 775 (1979), to this hierarchical church property dispute. See Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc. v. Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Inc., 307 Ga.App. 191, 705 S.E.2d 262 (2010). Timberridge Presbyterian Church (“Timberridge”) is located on property owned by appellee Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc. (“TPC Inc.”), a corporation formed to hold and control the property of Timberridge. The Court of Appeals held that TPC Inc. did not hold the property in trust for the benefit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (“PCUSA”), which is represented in this case by appellant Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Inc. (“Presbytery”), the PCUSA's governing body for the geographic district in which Timberridge is located. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.

1. Timberridge was formed in Henry County in 1830. In 1880, Timberridge became a member of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (“PCUS”), which was the southern branch of the post-Civil War denomination. The PCUS Book of Church Order (“BOCO”) set forth the rules governing the southern church. By early 1982, and apparently well before then, the northern and southern branches of the Presbyterian Church were meeting to discuss reunification, and the PCUS was meeting to consider whether to add a provision to its Book of Church Order stating that local churches hold their property in trust for the PCUS.

At a January 26, 1982, meeting of the Presbytery of Atlanta, the immediate predecessor of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, to consider and vote on constitutional amendments to the Book of Church Order, including the property trust provision, the participants included Timberridge's pastor and one of its elders. The record does not reveal how they voted, but it shows that the property trust provision was approved by a vote of 155 for and 96 against. In June 1982, the General Assembly of the PCUS adopted the property trust provision. The provision stated that “[a]ll property held by or for a particular [local] church, whether legal title is lodged in a corporation, a trustee or trustees, or an unincorporated association, ... is held in trust ... for the use and benefit of the [PCUS].” BOCO § 6.3. About two weeks later, the Presbytery of Atlanta met to vote on the reunification of the southern and northern branches of the Presbyterian Church. Timberridge's pastor and an elder again attended. The vote was 235 for reunification and 54 against; an affidavit by Timberridge's pastor states that he voted in favor of reunification.

In 1983, the PCUS and the northern branch of the denomination formally reunited as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and Timberridge became a member of the PCUSA. The PCUSA Book of Order (“BOO”), which took effect immediately upon the formation of the reunited church, sets forth the rules governing the national church and its local member (“particular”) churches. The Book of Order provides that “[t]he government of the church is representative,” BOO § G–6.0107, and that the PCUSA “shall be governed by representative bodies,” which in order from lowest to highest are called “session, presbytery, synod, General Assembly,” § G–9.0101. Each of those bodies is composed of presbyters (the elders and ministers of the particular churches), see id. and § G–4.0301 (b); is governed by majority vote, see § G–4.0301 (e); and “shall participate through its representatives in the planning and administration of the next higher body,” § G–9.0404 (a). A higher governing body has “the right of review and control” over decisions of lower ones. § G–4.0301 (f). As these provisions demonstrate, the PCUSA operates as a representative democracy, as has historically been the case with Presbyterian churches. See § G–1.0400 & n. 6.

Chapter 8 of the Book of Order contains the provisions of the church constitution governing property. Mirroring Section 6.3 of the PCUS Book of Church Order adopted the year before reunification, Section G–8.0201 of the BOO is an explicit trust provision, specifying that “[a]ll property held by or for a particular church ..., whether legal title is lodged in a corporation, a trustee or trustees, or an unincorporated association, ... is held in trust nevertheless for the use and benefit of the [PCUSA].” Section G–8.0301 provides that if a local church stops using its property as a church of the PCUSA, the property “shall be held, used, applied, transferred, or sold as provided by the presbytery.” Section G–8.0601 similarly provides that, in the event of a schism within the membership of a local church,

the presbytery shall determine if one of the factions is entitled to the property because it is identified by the presbytery as the true church within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This determination does not depend upon which faction received the majority vote within the particular church at the time of the schism.

Section G–8.0701 of the Book of Order permitted a local church, within eight years of the formation of the PCUSA, to opt out of a property provision of the BOO, but only if the local church was not “subject to a similar provision of the Constitution of the church of which it was a part” before the formation of the PCUSA. In addition, the PCUSA's Articles of Agreement, which set forth the contractual agreement for reunification between the northern and southern branches, provided that a local church of either branch could petition for dismissal from the PCUSA for eight years after the reunion and if two-thirds of the congregation voted for dismissal, the local church would be dismissed and would retain all of its property. See Articles 13.3(e), (g), 13.4.

The 1983 Book of Order also provided that, “[w]henever permitted by civil law, each particular church shall cause a corporation to be formed” to “receive, hold, encumber, manage, and transfer property, real or personal, for the church.” §§ G–7.0401, G–7.0402. As required by these provisions, in 1984 Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc. was formed as a Georgia non-profit corporation to hold and control the property of Timberridge Presbyterian Church. TPC Inc.'s Articles of Incorporation state that the corporation's purpose is “to be a church institution which is a member of the Presbytery of Atlanta of the [PCUSA] or any successor Presbytery thereof” and that its bylaws cannot conflict with the PCUSA Book of Order “as the same now exists or may hereafter from time to time be amended.” The Articles also provide that the corporation has the power to “receive, hold, encumber, manage, and transfer property, real and personal,” for the church, and that the corporation's members will consist of “active members” of Timberridge as defined by the PCUSA Book of Order. Section G–5.0202 of the BOO provides that “an active member of a particular church is a person ... [who] has voluntarily submitted to the government of [the PCUSA].”

Until 1970, the land on which Timberridge is located was owned by individuals who were also members of the church. From 1970 through 1987, the individual owners conveyed their various interests in the land to Timberridge and “its successors,” to Timberridge and its “heirs and assigns,” or simply to Timberridge without any successors or assigns language. During the eight years after reunification, Timberridge did not seek to retain all of its property by petitioning for dismissal from the PCUSA as allowed by the Articles of Agreement. However, in November 1987, following a vote of its congregation, Timberridge sent the Presbytery a letter stating that Timberridge had “voted to take the ‘property exemption’ as provided in the Book of Order, Section G–8.0700.” Timberridge did not receive a response to this letter from the Presbytery or the PCUSA. In 1999, Timberridge transferred all of its real property by warranty deeds to TPC Inc. and “its successors, heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns in fee simple.”

For almost a quarter-century after Timberridge affiliated with the PCUSA in 1983, the local church functioned as a regular member of the national church. Its pastor from 1978 to 1984 stated that Timberridge “took part in the governance of the denomination by regularly attending meetings of the Atlanta Presbytery” and “experienced benefits of being associated with the [PCUSA] such as participation in the representational governance ... and the availability of the denomination's resources.” Similarly, Timberridge's pastor from 1984 to 2003 stated that the church “actively participated in the governance of the denomination” and “experienced some of the benefits of being associated with the greater denomination, such as locating an Associate Pastor with the help of the [Presbytery] ... [and] taking advantage of ... [a] year round camp and conference center.”

By 2007, however, a dispute arose between TPC Inc. and the Presbytery and PCUSA as to who controls Timberridge's...