African Methodist Episcopal Church v. St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont

• Decision Date: 22 September 1978
• Parties: AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, a corporation, et al. v. ST. PAUL METHODIST CHURCH OF SELMONT, a corporation, et al. 77-252.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 868

362 So.2d 868

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, a corporation, et al. v. ST. PAUL METHODIST CHURCH OF SELMONT, a corporation, et al.

77-252.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 22, 1978.

Carolyn D. Gaines of Chestnut, Sanders & Sanders, Selma, for appellants.

Harry W. Gamble of Gamble & Gamble, Selma, for appellees.

BEATTY, Justice.

This is the second appeal by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America (plaintiff) in this contest with the Saint Paul Methodist Church of Selmont over the ownership of church property. We affirm.

The essential facts appear in our earlier opinion at 295 Ala. 343, 329 So.2d 542 (1976). They involved the construction of two deeds under which two different grantors, one King and the Attorney General of the United States, conveyed their interests in real property to certain named persons "as trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Church, Selma, Alabama." In that opinion we pointed out a difference between the granting clause and the habendum clause in each deed. The granting clause reads:

THIS INDENTURE, made by and between . . . party of the first part, and (fourteen named individuals), as Trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama, parties of the second part;

while the habendum clause is:

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, . . . unto the said parties of the second part, and successors in office, forever in trust, for the use of the members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, according to the rule and discipline of said Church, which from time to time may be adopted and agreed In the earlier case the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont, a then newly formed church. The trial court reached that summary conclusion from a construction of the language contained in the two deeds and from an application of Tit. 10, §§ 126(1), (2), Alabama Code (Recomp.1958). This Court reversed that finding on the ground that those Code sections, while they might aid in determining the grantors' intent, did not foreclose the inquiry. "As a general proposition," we stated at 295 Ala. 346, 329 So.2d 544, "summary judgment, when issues of motive, intent, and other subjective feelings and reactions are material, is likely to be inappropriate. Moore's Federal Practice § 56.17(41.-2)."

upon by the ministers and preachers of said Church at their General Conference in the United States of America.

Upon remand, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing on November 28, 1977, after which it issued an order including the following findings of fact and conclusions:

Before September 1, 1955, the lot involved in this action, upon which a church building had stood for many years, was contained in a large tract of land and owned by the Estate of Alice DeVane King, deceased. All of the property had been devised by will of the decedent equally to her cousin, Frederic D. King, and an alien German woman named Marie Smitter. The undivided one-half interest owned by the latter had been seized by the Alien Property Custodian of the U. S. Government during the last World War. By similar deeds, dated September 1, 1955, and October 15, 1955, respectively, the Attorney General of the United States and Frederic D. King, for a consideration of Ten Dollars ($10.00) each, conveyed their entire interest in the real estate here involved to certain named individuals 'as trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Church, Selma, Alabama', which was at that time an unincorporated church or association of that name. The two conveyances are copied in haec verba and attached hereto as 'Exhibit A' and 'Exhibit B'.

When the aforesaid conveyances were made to the trustees of the local congregation known as St. Paul African Methodist Church, Selma, Alabama, the members of the local congregation had an ecclesiastical connection or affiliation with a larger body known as the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, a Plaintiff in this case.

On June 12, 1969, the members of the aforesaid St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama, which until that time had remained an unincorporated association, formed themselves into a corporation under Article 3 of Chapter 7 of Title 10 of the Code of Alabama 1940 (Recompiled 1958), and chose for the name of said corporation 'St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont', which corporation is a Defendant in this case.

The Plaintiffs objected to the control and management by Defendants of the real estate described in the two deeds in question, their objections culminating in the filing of this action on July 29, 1969.

The real controversy in the case is the ownership of the real estate conveyed in the two deeds above mentioned. There were other matters averred in the complaint as amended, but the ownership of the real estate was the only issue considered by the parties on the trial, and the only one treated by the Court here.

CONCLUSIONS OF THE COURT

It appearing to the Court that the rights and claims of the parties in and to the real estate involved in this cause depend upon the interpretation and construction of two similar conveyances attached hereto as 'Exhibit A' and 'Exhibit B' made to certain individuals as Trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama, which was, at the time said deeds were executed, an unincorporated association consisting of members of a local church or religious society, and that the members of said unincorporated association became incorporated on June 11, 1969, under Article 3 of Chapter 7, Title 10, Code of Alabama 1940 (Recompiled 1958), with its corporate name specified to be St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont, a Defendant and Counter-Plaintiff in the present cause; and,

It further appearing to the Court from the words and language used in the aforesaid deeds, from existing statutes applicable thereto (Sec. 126(1) and 126(2), Title 10, Code of Alabama, 1940 (recompiled 1958)), and also from the testimony introduced at the trial of this cause, that the parties to the aforesaid deeds intended that the legal title to the real estate conveyed therein should vest in the trustees named as grantees therein free from any regulation and control of the Plaintiffs in this cause, insofar as the management and control of said real estate was concerned, and that upon the incorporation of the members of the aforesaid unincorporated association with its corporate name specified as St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont, the legal title to said real estate vested in said last named corporation free from any regulation and control of the Plaintiffs in this cause insofar as the management and control of said real estate is concerned.

It is, therefore,

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED by the Court as follows:

1. That judgment be and the same is hereby entered and declared in favor of the Defendants (Counter-Plaintiffs) and against the Plaintiffs (Counter-Defendants) in this cause.

2. That the title to the real estate described in the deeds involved in this action, namely, deed dated September 1, 1955, made by the Attorney General of the United States of America, Washington, D. C., party of the First Part, to Oscar Durant, et al, as Trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama, parties of the Second Part, and deed dated October 15, 1955, made by Frederic D. King and his wife, Eola F. King, as parties of the First Part, to Oscar Durant, et al. as Trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama, as parties of the second part, which deeds are recorded in the Probate Office of Dallas County, Alabama, in Book 475 at Page 504 and in Book 475 at Page 507 respectively, vested upon the execution and delivery of said deeds in the trustees named in said deeds for the use and benefit of the members of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama, an unincorporated church or association, and that upon the incorporation of the members of said unincorporated church or association with the corporate name of St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont on June 12, 1969, the legal title to said real estate vested absolutely and in fee simple in said corporation, the Defendant, St. Paul Methodist Church of Selmont, and that thereupon said corporation became and shall remain a distinct and independent church corporation, free from the regulation and control of the Plaintiffs or either of them or any other higher church body, denomination or other organization with which it was then associated or affiliated insofar as the management, control, disposition, or alienation of said real property is concerned.

In its appeal from this order the plaintiff contends that the trial court's findings are contrary to the unambiguous language of the two deeds. Thus he maintains that the only interpretation which can be given to the language of the granting and habendum clauses is that they described the grantees to be and thus the grantor intended the grantees to be, holding in trust for the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Of course, were the language contained in these deeds crystal clear in their references to the grantees, there would be nothing to construe; the only option open to the court would have been to give force to those plain terms. Accord, Hall v. Long, 199 Ala. 97, 74 So. 56 (1917). But that is not the situation here. It is perfectly clear that these Granting clauses refer to certain persons " 'as trustees of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Selma, Alabama.' " On the other hand, the Habendum clauses recite "unto the parties . . . for the use of the members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. . . ." It is obvious that this language used in the respective clauses is not the same and that being the case, this language had to be interpreted, or construed, to determine the...