EPISCOPAL LAWYERS FILE REPLY TO OLD ST. ANDREW'S AND HOLY CROSS (STATEBURG)
On today, September 29, 2022, the attorneys for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and the Episcopal Church filed in the South Carolina Supreme Court "Reply to Returns to Motion for Relief from Judgment."
On August 17, 2022, the SCSC issued a judgment holding that Old St. Andrew's and Holy Cross, of Stateburg, were owners of their properties because they had formed trusts after 2006 when state law changed to allow unilateral revocation of trusts. The Episcopal side's lawyers then filed a request with the SCSC to vacate the judgment or to hold a new hearing on the issue. OSA and HC then filed a response to the Episcopal side's request. Today's paper is the reply of the Episcopal lawyers to the two congregations' arguments.
Here is what I see as the main points in today's paper:
---In the first place, OSA and HC have not proven they formed trusts after 2006.
---The Aug. 17 ruling of the SCSC was improper for two big reasons.
1) The SCSC majority (Beatty, Pleicones, Hearn) opinion of 2017 held that 29 parishes (including OSA and HC) made irrevocable trusts for TEC and its diocese. This decision became the law of the land.
2) The issue of revocation was not part of the trial court record and was not considered by the circuit court for its 2020 order.
Therefore, the present SCSC should not rule on the issue of revocation without due process in court.
The TEC/EDOSC lawyers ended by asking the SCSC to vacate its judgment on OSA and HC or to hold a hearing to allow for due process of the issue.
What will the SCSC do next? God only knows. So far, the court has issued three different, and contradictory, rulings on the church case. They have made an embarrassing mess of it all and they still have not closed the door.
On Aug. 2, 2017, the court said the Episcopal Church owned 29 of the 36 parishes in question. Then, on April 20, 2022, the court said, oh no, TEC actually owns 14 of the 36. And then, on Aug. 17, 2022, the justices said, no no, TEC really owns 8 of the 36. This chaos is the result of the SCSC trying to be both an appeals court and a trial court and not doing either well.
