Kond v. Mudryk

• Citation: 769 So.2d 1073
• Decision Date: 13 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 4D99-3796.,4D99-3796.
• Parties: Walter KOND, Maria Kond, Sofya Boyko and Anatoly Boyko, Appellants, v. Stefan MUDRYK, Lidia Nazaruk, Ana Serdiuk, Russian Ukranian Baptist Church, Inc., a Florida corporation, The Russian-Ukranian Evangelical Baptist Union, USA, Inc., a foreign corporation, Alexander Koltakov and Alexander Leonovich, Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)

769 So.2d 1073

Walter KOND, Maria Kond, Sofya Boyko and Anatoly Boyko, Appellants, v. Stefan MUDRYK, Lidia Nazaruk, Ana Serdiuk, Russian Ukranian Baptist Church, Inc., a Florida corporation, The Russian-Ukranian Evangelical Baptist Union, USA, Inc., a foreign corporation, Alexander Koltakov and Alexander Leonovich, Appellees.

No. 4D99-3796.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

September 13, 2000.

Rehearing Denied November 7, 2000.

Louis C. Arslanian, Hollywood, for appellants.

Perry W. Hodges, Jr. of Perry W. Hodges, Jr., P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

Walter Kond, Maria Kond, Sofya Boyko, and Anatoly Boyko filed two separate amended complaints against appellees for declaratory relief and slander. Maria Kond individually sought relief for intentional infliction of emotional distress. On appellees' motions, the trial court consolidated appellants' cases. This appeal is from the trial court's dismissal with prejudice of appellants' amended complaints. In their claims for declaratory relief, appellants sought a declaration of the church's (the Russian Ukranian Baptist Church, Inc.) and appellants' respective rights as to: "the expulsion of Church members, including [appellants]; the appointing or designation of a Pastor; the holding of elections; and the performance of an audit...." Appellants alleged that the church and its Board of Directors ("the Board") acted contrary to its by-laws when they: (1) expelled them as members from the church without any vote; (2) appointed a new pastor without a full election of the church members; (3) rescinded its October 1997 by-laws for new ones without an election; (4) re-elected the Board without a proper quorum or notice; and (5) failed to perform a required audit. In support of their allegations, appellants attached multiple documents to their complaints. These documents included the church's Articles of Incorporation, the church's October 1997 by-laws, and a letter from the Russian-Ukranian Evangelical Baptist Union, USA, Inc. ("the Union") asking that appellants "voluntarily withdraw from membership in the church."

Appellants also sought money damages for slander. They alleged, among other things, that "each of the individual Defendants" both in and out of church made slanderous statements about them to other church members in retaliation for their criticisms about the Board's selection of a new pastor, the church's alignment with the Union, and the church's failure to perform a required audit. In a separate count, Mrs. Kond sought damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress. She alleged that a church leader, Mr. Leonovich, falsely told her in a phone conversation that her husband accused her of being a Pentecostal, knowing of her religious persecution abroad, and that this caused her to blame her husband for her expulsion and suffer extreme emotional distress.

The trial court concluded in its order dismissing appellants' amended complaints that

Counts I [(Slander)] and II [(Declaratory Relief)] of the Boykos' amended complaint and Counts I [(Slander)] and III [(Declaratory Relief)] of the Konds' amended complaint are DISMISSED with prejudice on the basis that an adjudication of such claims would result in excessive government entanglement with church policies, procedures, practices, and bylaws. See Doe v. Evans, 718 So.2d 286, 288 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)

(Excessive entanglement occurs when the courts begin to review and interpret a church's constitution, laws, and regulations. The First Amendment prohibits courts from resolving doctrinal disputes or determining whether a religious organization acted in accordance with its canons and bylaws.); Goodman v. Temple Shir Ami, Inc., 712 So.2d 775, 777 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)(An alleged defamatory statement occurring as part of a religious dispute is not actionable.). Count II [(Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress)] of the Konds' amended complaint is also DISMISSED with prejudice not only because it is barred by the First Amendment, see Doe, 718 So.2d at 293-94, but also because the conduct complained of is insufficient to state a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. See Paul v. Humana Med. Plan, Inc., 682 So.2d 1119, 1121 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)(The alleged conduct must be so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. It is well-settled that a trial court can make an initial determination of outrageousness as a matter of law at the motion to dismiss stage.).

Based on the foregoing, the amended complaints are hereby DISMISSED with prejudice. This case is closed.

Appellants contend that the trial court erred in not exercising subject matter jurisdiction over their claims. They argue that the trial court could have determined whether the church acted in accordance with its by-laws without excessively entangling itself in church policies, doctrines, and beliefs, since their claims for declaratory relief involve only "neutral principles of law." Appellants further contend that their claims for slander do not enjoy a qualified privilege because they were not uttered during a disciplinary proceeding and they do not involve a "religious dispute," other than the dispute over the church's failure to follow its by-laws. Appellants also contend that the trial court erred when it determined that the conduct complained of by Mrs. Kond did not rise to a sufficient level of outrageousness to state a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. We affirm.

"In reviewing an appeal from the dismissal of a complaint as failing to state a cause of action against any defendant, the allegations of the complaint are assumed to be true and all reasonable inferences indulged in favor of the plaintiff." Drew v. Knowles, 511 So.2d 393, 395 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987). "Whether a complaint is sufficient to state a cause of action is an issue of law. Consequently, the ruling on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action is subject to de novo standard of review." W.R. Townsend Contracting, Inc. v. Jensen Civil Constr., Inc., 728 So.2d 297, 300 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999).

In Partin v. Tucker, 126 Fla. 817, 172 So. 89 (Fla.1937), the supreme court cited with approval from State ex rel. Johnson v. Tulane Ave. Baptist Church, 144 So. 639 (La.App. 1932). The court noted:

By the great weight of authority the civil courts will not interfere in church government, or discipline, in ecclesiastical or spiritual relation with their members. The church authorities and such tribunals as they may set up for themselves are supreme in all spiritual matters and may arbitrarily expel from membership any individual with or without cause, as long as no civil rights are involved. In other words, the question of who shall be admitted to fellowship in any religious sect or order is one which concerns only the particular sect or order, and they are not required to worship with anyone whose presence is not agreeable. This is true, whether the expulsion of the individual be in disregard of the usage and practice of the church, or not.

Id. at 92-93(emphasis added); see also; Doe, 718 So.2d at 288

.

Furthermore, "when rival church factions seek resolution of a [religious dispute or even a] church property dispute in civil courts there is a substantial danger that the State will become entangled in essentially religious controversies or intervene on behalf of groups espousing particular doctrinal beliefs." Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for the United States of America and Canada v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 709, 96 S.Ct. 2372, 49 L.Ed.2d 151 (1976).

Excessive entanglement occurs when the courts begin to review and interpret a church's constitution, laws, and regulations. The

...