Walters v. Stewart

838 So.2d 1047

Alford WALTERS v. Rose STEWART, Joe A. Hicks, and Marie Adair.

2001011.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

June 21, 2002.

John M. Lassiter, Jr., Mobile, for appellant.

Richard R. Williams, Mobile, for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

Alford Walters, the pastor of the New Life Fellowship Church, an unincorporated religious association in Mobile County, appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of Rose Stewart, Joe A. Hicks, and Marie Adair. Stewart, Hicks, and Adair are members or former members of the Bread of Life Church, the nominal predecessor of the New Life Fellowship Church. The three individuals sued to compel Walters to resign his pastorship of the New Life Fellowship Church and to relinquish control of disputed church property.

In 1990, John Loper founded the Bread of Life Church in Mobile County; Loper was the church's first pastor. In 1994, Loper and his wife deeded the property at issue in this case to James Davis and Tommy Stewart, as trustees of the Bread of Life Church. Tommy Stewart was the husband of appellee Rose Stewart and, after the death of Rev. Loper, he became the second pastor of the church. Rose Stewart was the church secretary, the keeper of the church records, and the custodian of the church bank accounts. Rev. Stewart died in 1998, and Joe A. Hicks became the third pastor.

In late 1998, Hicks left Mobile County to preach in Mississippi, and he "turned the pastorship [of the Bread of Life Church] over to Alford Walters." Walters accepted. Rose Stewart accompanied Walters and his wife Shirley to the bank, and they "transferred the church bank accounts" to Rev. and Mrs. Walters.

Walters changed the name of the church from the "Bread of Life Church" to the "New Life Fellowship Church." On December 4, 1998, Walters and his wife signed a warranty deed purporting to convey the church property from the Bread of Life Church to "Reverend Alford Walters, Senior Pastor and President, and Shirley Walters, Co-Pastor and Vice-President, as trustees for the New Life Fellowship Church (formerly known as the Bread of Life Church), an unincorporated association." On the same day, Walters signed a quitclaim deed reciting

"that the grantor, Bread of Life Church, for and in consideration of the sum of One and no/100's ($1.00) Dollars and other good and valuable considerations in hand paid to the said grantor by New Life Fellowship Church, Rev. Alford and Shirley Walters hereinafter called the grantee, does hereby remise, release, quitclaim and convey unto the said grantee, the heirs and assigns forever, in fee simple ... all of its right, title, and interest in and to that certain real property [described] ...."

In early 1999, Walters and his wife moved into the church building; they converted an adult Sunday school room into their bedroom, the church fellowship hall into their kitchen/living-room area, and one of the church restrooms into their residence bathroom. They kept a dog pen in the back of the churchyard, and they hung their wash on a clothesline outside.

Church attendance, which had previously been between 20 and 30 worshippers at any given service, dwindled to less than 5 attendees. Joe Adair testified that he and the other members of the church board tried to have a meeting with Walters to ask him to resign as pastor, but Walters refused to meet with them. Then, in April 1999, Stewart, Hicks, and Adair sued to have Walters removed as pastor of the church, to have the church bank accounts returned to them, to have the church property deeded to them as trustees, and to have an accounting of the church funds spent by Walters.

The jury returned a verdict for Stewart, Hicks, and Adair, accompanied by answers to three special interrogatories. The jury specifically found (1) that Walters "should be removed from the church as pastor," (2) that the property "should be deeded back to the church," and (3) that Walters should reimburse the church $1,180. Walters appeals, raising two issues. Initially, we note that our review is limited by the following principles:

"The First Amendment prohibits a court from resolving disputes on the basis of religious practice or doctrine. Presbyterian Church v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Mem'l Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S. 440, 449, 89 S.Ct. 601, 21 L.Ed.2d 658 (1969). Despite these constitutional limitations, the courts still have jurisdiction to decide cases concerning questions of civil or property rights. Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church v. Nixon, 340 So.2d 746, 748 (Ala.1976); Trinity Presbyterian Church v. Tankersley, 374 So.2d 861, 865 (Ala.1979). `[T]he courts must decide the property disputes by looking at so-called "neutral principles of law" and not resolve [any] underlying controversies over religious doctrine.' Tankersley, 374 So.2d at 866. The issue of who holds title to church property is a civil matter and is not ecclesiastical in nature. Id."

Murphy v. Green, 794 So.2d 325, 330 (Ala. 2000).

Walters first argues that Stewart, Hicks, and Adair had no standing to sue him because, he says, they were no longer members of his church and before they filed suit they had stopped attending services and had relinquished all interest in the workings of the church. The record, however, does not bear out Walters's claim. Marie Adair testified that she was one of the founding members of the church, that she had taught Sunday school, and that she had continued to attend church services after Walters became the pastor, but that, after Walters and his wife moved into the church building, attendance dwindled "down to nothing." She stated that the last time she went to church only four people were there—Rev. and Mrs. Walters, herself, and her granddaughter— and Rev. Walters suggested that they attend a service at another church. Adair said that, after that incident, she "just quit going. After we wasn't having no service, I quit going."

Rose Stewart testified that she stopped going to church because she did not approve of the Walterses' having moved into the church building, but that she "did not relinquish" her membership or her position as a member of the church board. Joe Hicks testified that although he had been a visiting preacher in other churches, he had never resigned from the church board and he still considered himself a member of the Bread of Life Church. Hicks stated that he disapproved of Walters's having changed the name of the church and using the church building as a residence. He stated that when he "[came] back [to Mobile] and found out what [Walters] was up to, [he] called a meeting [with] Sister Rose [Stewart] and Sister Marie [Adair] ... to stop [Walters] from moving in that building."

Standing turns on "`whether the party has been injured in fact and whether the injury is to a legally protected right.'" State v. Property at 2018 Rainbow Drive, 740 So.2d 1025, 1027-28 (Ala.1999) (quoting Romer v. Board of County Comm'rs of County of Pueblo, 956 P.2d 566, 581 (Colo. 1998) (Kourlis, J., dissenting)). One has standing if he or she has "a real, tangible legal interest in the subject matter of the lawsuit." City of Hoover v. Oliver & Wright Motors, Inc., 730 So.2d 608, 611 (Ala.1999). A party has standing "`if his stake in the resolution of that complaint assumes the proportions necessary to ensure that he will vigorously present his case.'" Smith v. Potts, 293 Ala. 419, 422, 304 So.2d 578, 580 (1974) (quoting Harman v. City and County of San Francisco, 7 Cal.3d 150, 151, 101 Cal.Rptr. 880, 886, 496 P.2d 1248, 1254 (1972)).

The record does not contain any written rules or governing documents relating to the organization, structure, or polity of the Bread of Life Church. We are not informed as to the requirements for membership, the powers and duties of the church board, or the function of trustees. Although Stewart, Hicks, and Adair testified that they were members of the church "board," they conceded on cross-examination that they had no documentary evidence of their having been elected, appointed, or otherwise designated to act in that capacity. Although Walters challenges the standing of Stewart, Hicks, and Adair based on what, he says, is their current nonattendance at church services, our supreme court has held that even former church members have standing to sue when the issues are their alleged wrongful expulsion and the claimed misappropriation of church funds by the minister. See Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church v. Nixon, 340 So.2d 746 (Ala.1976). Stewart, Hicks, and Adair claim, in effect, that Walters's usurping the church building for his personal residence has resulted in a wrongful expulsion of church members who desire to use the facility for worship. In addition, Stewart, Hicks, and Adair claim that Walters has misappropriated church funds. We conclude that the circuit court properly rejected Walters's argument that Stewart, Hicks, and Adair lacked the standing to sue.

Walters next claims that the action against him should have been dismissed for failure to join his wife Shirley as a party under Rule 19, Ala. R. Civ. P. Rule 19 provides, in pertinent part:

"(a) Persons to Be Joined if Feasible. A person who is subject to jurisdiction of the court shall be joined as a party in the action if (1) in the person's absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties, or (2) the person claims an interest relating to the subject of the action and is so situated that the disposition of the action in the person's absence may (i) as a practical matter impair or impede the person's ability to protect that interest or (ii) leave any of the persons already parties subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple, or otherwise inconsistent obligations by reason of the claimed interest. If the person has not been so joined, the court shall order that the person be made a party....

"(b) Determination by Court Whenever Joinder Not Feasible. If a person as described in subdivisi

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