Legal News (Page 6)
This section provides a historical record of legal actions regarding the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.
In addition to news articles below, the Texas judicial system maintains a list of each action on the case related to our diocese on their page, along with links to documents.
Click here to view the court’s records related to this case.
Ohio Court Rules for Episcopalians
On April 15, 2011, another court joined the long list of courts around the nation ruling that breakaway factions leaving The Episcopal Church cannot violate their oaths and seize Church property. The trial court in Cuyahoga County, Ohio issued an opinion and order granting a partial summary judgment in favor of The Episcopal Church and its Episcopal Diocese of Ohio against local leaders of five parishes who left The Episcopal Church in 2005 and 2006 and attempted to take church…
Court severs February 8, 2011 Order for Appeal
On February 8, 2011, the Honorable Judge John P. Chupp affirmed that the loyal Episcopal parties recognized by The Episcopal Church are the legally entitled representatives of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and its historic churches. On April 5, 2011, the Court severed its February 8, 2011 Order, allowing the parties to appeal that part of the case, while staying (or postponing) the remaining issues. This ruling enables the Fort Worth Court of Appeals to review the trial court’s…
Local Episcopal Parties File New Pleadings and Supplemental Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
On March 31, 2011 the Local Episcopal Parties filed amended pleadings in the 141st District Court of Tarrant County, Texas. The pleadings (1) add a new defendant, Jude Funding, Inc., and (2) seek supplemental declarations and injunctive relief consistent with the Court’s February 8, 2011 partial summary judgment. A more detailed list of the requested relief is in the “Relief Requested” sections of (1) Local Episcopal Plaintiffs’ Seventh Amended Original Petition and (2) the Fifth Amended Answers and Counterclaims to the…
Statement on 3/31/11 Hearing before Judge John P. Chupp
On March 31, 2011 Judge John P. Chupp heard arguments on the Southern Cone Parties’ Motion to Sever and Stay Proceedings. The judge declined to rule from the bench and announced that he wanted to review new filings before ruling. The Southern Cone Parties argued that the Judge should sever out the claims addressed in the partial summary judgment granted on February 8, 2011 for an immediate appeal and stop all further action in the case. In their Response to…
Bishop Wallis Ohl outlines plans for the continuing diocese
In an affidavit signed March 21, Bishop Ohl describes current planning to develop and continue the mission of The Episcopal Church in the 55 congregations of the diocese, stating that a “central element of this plan is for reconciliation with the many worshipers who will return to or remain in the pews.” Click here to read his affidavit.
Insurance Company Sues Iker-Led Diocese
On April 25, 2011 Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, which has issued directors’ and officers’ liability insurance to the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, sued the break-away faction led since November 15, 2008 by former Bishop Jack Leo Iker. A copy of the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Dallas, is here. Among other things, the complaint seeks a declaration that, based on Judge Chupp’s amended summary judgment order signed February 8, 2011 and the…
Local Parties file motion to compel
On March 25, 2011 the Local Episcopal Parties filed a motion to compel discovery from the Southern Cone parties. Click here to read a copy of the motion. A date for a hearing on the motion has not yet been set. In other legal news, the parties have filed an agreement to preserve documents relating to the diocesan case pending in the 141st District Court of Tarrant County, Texas. The written agreement, signed by counsel of record and filed with the clerk pursuant…
Austin Court of Appeals Rules for Good Shepherd San Angelo Episcopalians
On March 16, 2011, the Court of Appeals in Austin issued its opinion affirming the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of the Diocese of Northwest Texas and the continuing Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in San Angelo. A copy of the opinion is here. In 2006, a majority of the members of Good Shepherd voted to leave The Episcopal Church to affiliate with the Diocese of Uganda, Africa; however, they refused the order of Bishop C. Wallis Ohl, then the bishop…
Amended Order Entered on Motions for Summary Judgment
After a hearing on February 8, 2011, the Hon. John P. Chupp, judge of the 141st District Court of Tarrant County, Texas, entered an amended order affirming his rulings on January 21, 2011 in a form agreed to by all the parties. A copy of the order is below. Amended Order on Church and Local Episcopal Parties’ Motion for Summary Judgment 020811 The order reaffirms that the court grants the motions for summary judgment filed by the Episcopal Parties (Episcopal…
New date set for hearing
On January 25, 2011 the Southern Cone parties filed Objections to the Form of the Summary Judgment Orders granting the summary judgment motions of the Episcopal Parties on January 21. The objections are set for hearing at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 8, 2011. You may read a copy of the Episcopal Parties’ response to their objections.
Judge Grants Episcopal Parties’ Motions for Summary Judgment, Orders Surrender of Diocesan Property
On Friday, January 21, 2011, the Hon. John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court, Tarrant County, Texas, granted the Local Episcopal Parties’ and The Episcopal Church’s Motions for Summary Judgments. He denied the Southern Cone parties Motion for a Partial Summary Judgment. The orders can be seen here. The Court orders provide in part that the defendants, including Bishop Jack L. Iker, “surrender all Diocesan property, as well as control of the Diocesan Corporation, to the Diocesan plaintiffs and to…
Summary Judgment hearings held
On Friday, January 14, 2011, the Hon. John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court of Tarrant County considered the motions for summary judgment in the dispute between the Episcopal parties and the Southern Cone parties, former members of the Episcopal Church. Competing motions for summary judgment are filed by the Episcopal Parties [The Episcopal Church, the Local Episcopal Parties (officials of the continuing diocese), and Episcopal Congregations (continuing parishes and missions and officials)] and the Southern Cone Parties (individuals…
Episcopal Parties Make Final Filings in Preparation for January 14 Hearings
On Tuesday, January 11, 2011, in preparation for the upcoming hearings in the 141st District Court of Tarrant County, the Episcopal Parties filed various responses and objections to the filings of the Southern Cone parties. The following motions are set for hearing on Friday, January 14: Episcopal and Southern Cone competing motions for summary judgment, Episcopal Congregations’ motion for continuance, Bishop Ohl’s motion to compel production of documents, and Episcopal Rule 12 motions challenging the authority of the attorneys for…
Parties File Summary Judgment Responses in Diocesan Litigation
On January 7, 2011 the Episcopal Parties filed responses to the motion for partial summary judgment filed by the faction of former Episcopalians led by former Bishop Jack Iker. The responses, filed in the 141st District Court of Tarrant County, were filed by The Episcopal Church, the Local Episcopal Parties (Bishop Ohl and other individual diocesan officials), and Episcopal Congregations (Episcopal parishes and missions, with clergy and vestry members from those congregations). These responses are in preparation for the summary…
Federal Judge Issues Stay of Diocese’s Trademark Case
On January 6, 2011 U.S. District Judge Terry Means stayed the trademark case filed in his court by the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth against its former bishop, Jack Iker. Judge Means determined that the issues in the state court case, The Episcopal Church v. Salazar, pending in the 141st District Court in Tarrant County, and federal case,Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth v. Iker, pending the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, are sufficiently “parallel” that he will…
Episcopalians Challenge Authority of Attorneys for Breakaway Factions
The Episcopal parties filed motions in the 141st District Court of Tarrant County to challenge the authority of the attorneys for the break-away Southern Cone factions. The motions seek to strike the pleadings of these attorneys who claim to represent the historic Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and historic entities of the diocese. The motions state two grounds for declaring that the attorneys are not authorized to represent the entities they claim to represent: First, the breakaway-faction attorneys lack authority…