Fiedler v. Marumsco Baptist Church
| Citation | 486 F. Supp. 960 |
| Decision Date | 23 August 1979 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 79-158-A. |
| Parties | Raymond FIEDLER et al., Plaintiffs, v. MARUMSCO BAPTIST CHURCH et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
Victor M. Glasberg, Alexandria, Va., for plaintiffs.
I. J. Crickenberger, Falls Church, Va., for defendants.
The plaintiff brought this civil rights action against the defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to compel them to readmit his daughters to the Marumsco Christian School and for damages resulting from their expulsion.
The plaintiff alleges his daughter, Melissa, a 14-year-old white girl, was expelled because she became acquainted and spoke with one of the very few black students in the school, and that his daughter, Charlotte, an 11-year-old white girl, was expelled because he complained of Melissa's expulsion to the local branch of the NAACP.
The defendants justify the girls' expulsion on disciplinary and religious grounds— they say Melissa was expelled because she refused to end a "romantic relationship" with the said black student while on school premises and at school functions.
The defendants filed petitions for Chapter XI and voluntary bankruptcy in the Bankruptcy Section of this Court on the morning this controversy was set for hearing on the merits, and moved that the scheduled hearing be stayed until their bankruptcy petitions could be heard and determined.
The plaintiffs moved that this Court—sitting in bankruptcy—proceed with the scheduled trial on the merits.
The Court bifurcated and stayed the damage claim—and the liability phase was heard without a jury.
From the pleadings, stipulations, depositions, exhibits and live testimony, the Court makes the following findings:
The Marumsco Baptist Church is an independent church of the fundamentalist Christian faith.
The Marumsco Christian School is a church ministry of the defendant Marumsco Baptist Church, the former being a religious mission of the latter.
The Marumsco Christian School is a school established by the defendant Church for inculcating and transmitting the religious beliefs of the members of the defendant Church. The defendant School holds itself out to the general public as providing, within the limits of its maximum enrollment, educational and related services to students who meet its admission requirements, pay the requisite tuition and fees, and abide by school regulations.
The school has admitted students without regard to race since it was founded in 1972 and seeks to encourage interracial harmony and friendship. The Church is open to members of all races.
Aleck Lee Bledsoe is the pastor of the Church and the principal of the school and acts for and on behalf of both the Church and the school.
Bledsoe does not generally oppose romantic relationship between the sexes, but he does oppose interracial romantic relationships and claims to base his opposition on religious beliefs derived from the Bible.
Rufus Bostic III was enrolled in the school for the 1978-1979 school year.
Melissa Fiedler is a 14-year-old white female, Charlotte Fiedler is an 11-year-old white female, and Rufus Bostic III is a 14-year-old black male.
Raymond Fiedler, et ux., enrolled their daughters (plaintiffs Melissa Fiedler and Charlotte Fiedler) in the Marumsco Baptist Church's school on May 18, 1978 for the 1978-1979 school year at said school.
In so doing, plaintiff Raymond Fiedler signed a series of agreements and covenants as a part of the contract of enrollment of his daughters in the Marumsco Baptist Church's school.
In the agreement signed by Raymond Fiedler as a part of said enrollment contract, full discretion was given to the said school's staff, including in such discretion the right to suspend or expel the said Raymond Fiedler's children from the school's program. Furthermore, the said school expressly reserves "the right to dismiss any student who does not respect its spiritual standards or cooperate in the educational process or does not fit into the spirit of the school."
As a ministry of Marumsco Baptist Church, the behavior and conduct standards and spiritual standards in the said school reflect and are based upon the religious tenets, doctrines, beliefs and convictions of the fundamentalist christian religion as held by Marumsco Baptist Church.
Based on their interpretation of the Bible, the defendants believe as a matter of firm and truly-held conviction, that salvation and sanctification are offered by God to all men and women regardless of race, and that the work and ministries of a New Testament church such as Marumsco Baptist Church must similarly be opened to all men and women regardless of race.
At all times relevant to the events in question in this litigation, Marumsco Baptist Church in all of its ministries (including its school) has been and remains racially integrated and non-discriminatory.
Friendship between students of all races at the school are not only condoned but encouraged by defendants.
Rufus and Melissa were good friends who had known each other while attending public elementary school, and had renewed their friendship at the defendant school.
As a matter of firm religious conviction based on their interpretation of the Bible, interracial marriage, interracial dating, and interracial romantic relationships violate the tenets, doctrines, and beliefs of the fundamentalist christian faith as held and practiced by the defendants.
Melissa Fiedler was counselled on several occasions regarding the nature of her relationship with Rufus Bostick III.
Defendant Bledsoe disapproved of what he viewed as a romantic relationship between Rufus and Melissa because it was interracial and admonished Melissa not to continue the relationship for that reason.
The defendants believed in good faith that a romantic relationship existed between Rufus and Melissa.
In the transportation to and from classes furnished by said school, Melissa on several occasions was reprimanded by a church staff member for sitting very close to the black student and putting her hands on him. (There is no need to recite additional romantic expressions observed by the Pastor and others at school and at school functions.)
Melissa Fiedler was warned by Pastor Bledsoe that under penalty of expulsion, such romantic expressions on school premises and at school events must end and her association with said black student under such circumstances on school premises must be limited in the future—when she disobeyed this directive she was expelled.
After said expulsion, the Pastor agreed with Mr. Fiedler to convert the expulsion of Melissa into a three-day suspension premised upon Melissa's adherence to the aforementioned restrictions and conducts set forth hereinabove and the implied and expressed willingness of Mr. Fiedler to cooperate with the school in the enforcement of its conduct requirements and disciplinary actions.
On the day following his telephone conversation with Mr. Fiedler, Bledsoe was told by third parties and did believe that Mr. Fiedler had contacted the NAACP regarding bringing suit against the school because of Melissa's expulsion.
Subsequent to the agreement of conversion of the expulsion of Melissa into a suspension as set forth hereinabove, Bledsoe instructed Deacon Ray Hunter to call Mr. Fiedler to ascertain what had transpired between Mr. Fiedler and the NAACP. Mr. Hunter was instructed to tell Mr. Fiedler that if Mr. Fiedler had contacted the NAACP and was planning to institute suit over Melissa's expulsion, then Melissa's expulsion would remain in effect and Charlotte would also be expelled.
Mr. Fiedler told Deacon Hunter that he had been prepared to drop the matter of Melissa's expulsion, that in light of the ultimatum conveyed to him by Deacon Hunter, he had now decided to proceed with legal action.
Deacon Hunter told Mr. Fiedler that Melissa's expulsion would remain in effect and that Charlotte was also expelled.
Plaintiffs made representations to defendants of their pursuit of action not in accord with the conditions of the suspension and the underlying enrollment contract and were in breach thereof, where upon defendants dismissed the aforementioned children of plaintiff Raymond Fiedler from Marumsco Baptist Church's school.
It is clear, from these findings, that the Fiedler children were not expelled from the Marumsco Christian School because Melissa talked to Rufus—or because Mr. Fiedler complained to the local branch of the NAACP. Melissa was expelled because...
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