Seat Pleasant Baptist Church Bd. of Trustees v. Long

• Decision Date: 31 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 1063,S,1063
• Citation: 691 A.2d 721,114 Md.App. 660
• Parties: SEAT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH BOARD OF TRUSTEES v. Kenneth K. Atlantis LONG, et al. ept. Term 1996.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 660

114 Md.App. 660

691 A.2d 721

SEAT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH BOARD OF TRUSTEES v. Kenneth K. Atlantis LONG, et al.

No. 1063, Sept. Term 1996.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 31, 1997.

W. Ray Ford, Bowie, for Appellant.

No brief or appearance by Appellees' counsel.

Argued before DAVIS, EYLER and THIEME, JJ.

DAVIS, Judge.

The Board of Trustees (appellant) of Seat Pleasant Baptist Church (the church) appeals from an order of the Circuit Court for Prince George's County mandating arbitration in appellant's lawsuit against Kenneth K. Atlantis Long, et al. (appellees). ¹ Through a petition for ex parte injunctive relief filed on January 23, 1995, appellant and the Board of Deacons of the church (the Deacons) asserted that Long, once the pastor of the church, was fired but refused to leave; instead he absconded with church property. Appellant and the Deacons asked the court, inter alia, to restrain appellee Long from entering the church grounds or other church property, and to prohibit Long's access to the church's bank accounts. The petition also asked the court to direct Long to return items in his possession "which are or could be construed to be the assets" of the church, and asked the court to schedule a show cause hearing on the issuance of a permanent injunction.

On January 26, 1995, the court issued the requested ex parte injunction. The court enjoined Long from undertaking any obligations or actions on behalf of the church, from entering onto the property of the church for any purpose other than to return the church's property, and from taking any action concerning the financial or real property assets of the church. On February 1, 1995, Long filed a Motion to Dismiss the petition, which the circuit court dismissed as moot on April 24, 1995. Long filed his own Petition for Ex Parte Relief and Emergency Hearing on April 11, 1995, asserting that appellant and the Deacons were not the proper Board of Trustees and Board of Deacons of the church. Long also asserted that he was still the pastor of the church and that appellant and the Deacons wrongfully changed the locks on the church. Their actions, Long said, prevented him and other members from worshipping in the church and also prevented him from correcting unsafe building conditions that he was ordered to correct by Prince George's County. Long asked the court to enjoin appellant and the Deacons from preventing Long's and other church members' entrance to the church for purposes of worship and repairs. ²

On August 14, 1995, appellant and the Deacons amended their complaint for injunctive relief, requesting a declaratory judgment that they are the proper Boards of Trustees and Deacons of the church and that Long was properly removed as pastor of the church under the church's valid constitution. Appellant and the Deacons also asked the court permanently to enjoin Long from entering the church grounds and from presenting himself as pastor of the church. When no answer to the Amended Complaint was forthcoming, appellant and the Deacons filed a Motion for Default Judgment. The court denied the motion on October 30, 1995 for, inter alia, lack of a military affidavit and improper service of process. On November 20, 1995, appellant and the Deacons filed a Second Amended Complaint, asking for the same relief as in the Amended Complaint. Long filed his Answer on December 21, 1995. On January 17, 1996, appellant and the Deacons filed another Motion for Default Judgment that was never addressed by the court. ³

A trial date for the matter was set for June 17-18, 1996. Difficulties in conducting discovery plagued the litigation but need no detailed explanation here. After a status conference on April 1, 1996, the court ordered appellant and the Deacons to amend their complaint a third time and to add several parties as defendants in the matter. After another status hearing held on April 25, 1996, the court issued a somewhat Solomonic order, equitably dividing hours of access to the church between the two groups claiming exclusive right of access, pending the outcome of the trial on the merits.

On May 1, 1996, Long filed a preliminary motion that asserted a lack of necessary parties. He claimed that the individuals pursuing an action in the court no longer comprised the Board of Trustees or the Board of Deacons of the church. Specifically, he claimed that additional people had been elected to the Boards of Trustees and Deacons on January 18, 1995, and that in September of that year the church had completely replaced as Trustees and Deacons the individuals who had filed suit on behalf of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Deacons. The individuals styling themselves the Boards of Trustees and Deacons, maintained Long, lacked standing to bring this action on behalf of the Boards. ⁴

On May 2, 1996, appellant alone responded with a Third Amended Complaint for Declaratory Relief. In this submission, it named as defendants, in addition to Long, those individuals styling themselves the Board of Trustees of Seat Pleasant Baptist Church: Oladele Dosunmu, Wendy Watkins, Annetta McRae, Danlowell Watkins, Levy Blackwell, Rayfield Harrison, and Evelyn Brown. ⁵ To its complaint for declaratory judgment, appellant added one count of civil conspiracy stemming from an alleged conversion of church funds and one count of trespass to land stemming from entry onto the church property and the alleged removal of equipment belonging to the church. For the latter two counts, appellant claimed compensatory damages of $150,000 plus interest and costs. ⁶

On May 17, 1996, Long filed a Motion to Dismiss. He claimed that the Third Amended Complaint created a contest over the "fair conduct of an election" of Trustees because the Complaint alleged that Long had improperly attempted to appoint a new Board of Trustees on January 18, 1995, and that therefore no election was held on that date. MARYLAND CODE ANNOTATED, CORPS. & ASS'NS (C.A.) § 5-310 (1975, 1993 Repl.Vol.) requires arbitration of any contest within a religious corporation "over the fair conduct of an election." Id. Consequently, Long argued, the court should dismiss the complaint.

The court entertained the Motion to Dismiss on June 4, 1996, but took no testimony. Treating the motion as a Motion to Compel Arbitration, the court issued an order on June 4, 1996, staying all matters in the case pending arbitration under C.A. § 5-310. Appellant appeals from this order, raising two questions for our review, which we restate as follows:

I. Does C.A. § 5-310 require arbitration of this dispute as a contest "over the voting rights or the fair conduct of an election?"

II. Does C.A. § 5-310, as applied, violate the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States?

We answer the first question in the negative. Consequently, we do not reach the constitutional issue. We vacate the circuit court's order and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

The constitution of the Seat Pleasant Baptist Church specifies that "[t]his Church shall be incorporated as a non-profit institution." All parties impliedly concede that the church was incorporated under the Religious Corporation Law, C.A. § 5-301 et seq., and that C.A. § 5-310 therefore may apply. Long had been the pastor of Seat Pleasant Baptist Church since January 24, 1993. On December 19, 1994, the Board of Deacons sent a letter to Long asking for his resignation as pastor for "actions ... strictly contrary to the teaching of God's word ..." and for a failure to submit to the church documentation certifying Long's ordination as a Baptist minister. ⁷ That same day, a regularly scheduled business meeting of the congregation was held, at which Long attempted to take a vote--a vote that Long, in the court below, termed "advisory"--on his continued tenure as pastor. Appellant claims that the meeting sparked a disturbance that was quelled only when riot police intervened.

The controversy over what happened in the next month forms the crux of this appeal. Appellant claims that, on January 1 and 8, 1995, the Board of Deacons announced from the pulpit that it would take a vote to terminate or retain Long as pastor. The vote would be taken, it announced, on January 19, 1995. Long, in the court below, denied that these announcements were made.

Appellant also claims that on January 15, 1995, Long announced from the pulpit that he would hold a meeting at the church on January 18, three days later. Appellees contend that Long held the special called meeting to elect new officers, and that new Trustees and Deacons were added to the Board of Deacons and Trustees at this meeting. Appellant, for its part, alleged in the court below that Long called the meeting solely in order to preempt his ouster as pastor. Appellant also claimed that, in fact, no elections were held; instead, Long merely appointed people at the meeting to serve as Deacons and Trustees.

On January 19, 1995, appellant claims, the Board of Deacons met as scheduled. The meeting took place in the church parking lot. ⁸ Long alleged that this meeting never occurred. At the meeting, appellant claims that the Deacons unanimously voted to terminate Long as pastor of the church. By letter dated January 22, 1995, the Chairman of the Board of Deacons, Benjamin Exum, notified Long that his tenure as pastor was officially terminated in a vote taken under Article II, § 2(a) of the church By-Laws and Article VI, § 3 of the church constitution. On January 20, 1995, the Board of Trustees placed locks on the doors of the church. Subsequent events generated the petition for injunctive relief that led to this appeal. These events, irrelevant to the issue at hand, need no explanation or description.

The circuit court impliedly concluded that the Third Amended Complaint asserted a contest over the voting rights and the fair conduct of the alleged election on January 18, 1995. First, the court reasoned, the events of January...