Key point 9-07. The First Amendment allows civil courts to resolve internal church disputes so long as they can do so without interpreting doctrine or polity.
Background
A Texas court ruled that it was not barred by the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine from resolving a church’s lawsuit alleging that a former pastor had committed fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and conversion in his handling of church finances.
A church was formed nearly 100 years ago as an unincorporated entity. On September 14, 2008, it adopted its constitution and bylaws. Under the terms of the constitution and bylaws, the government of the church was vested in its board of deacons.
In 2015, the pastor organized the church as a Texas nonprofit corporation and received a certificate of incorporation from the secretary of state.
In 2017, the church building collapsed, and the church received a $300,000 check from its insurance carrier. The check was deposited into the church’s account and allegedly withdrawn by the pastor without any authorization.
In January 2021, the board of deacons and church members requested an accounting from the pastor showing how the $300,000 was spent. The pastor refused to provide the information or otherwise respond to the church’s request. Instead of explaining the use of the funds, the pastor resigned.
In May 2021, the church sued the pastor for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and conversion. The pastor denied the claims. The trial court dismissed the lawsuit. The church appealed.
The appellate court’s analysis
The appeals court noted that the Texas Supreme Court has recognized that churches have a fundamental right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution ”to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.”
Accordingly, the First Amendment “severely circumscribes” the role that civil courts may play in resolving church-related ecclesiastical disputes.
For example, civil courts cannot inquire into matters concerning “theological controversy, church discipline, ecclesiastical government, or the conformity of the members of the church to the standard of morals required of them.”
To enforce this constitutional provision, Texas courts have utilized the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine.”
The ecclesiastical abstention doctrine “is more than just a limitation on a court’s actions, it is a limitation on its . . . jurisdiction.”
But this court-made doctrine “does not foreclose civil court subject matter jurisdiction over all disputes involving religious entities.” Because churches and their congregations “exist and function within the civil community,” they are “amenable to rules governing property rights, torts, and criminal conduct. . . . Religious practices that threaten the public’s health, safety, or general welfare cannot be tolerated as protected religious belief. . . . Churches, their congregations, and hierarchy exist and function within the civil community, they can be as amenable to rules governing civil, contract, or property rights as any other societal Entity.”
The court separately evaluated the application of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine to each of the pastor’s claims:
A. Fraud
The church claimed that the pastor had committed fraud.
The court noted that “fraud requires a showing of a material misrepresentation, which (1) was false, (2) was either known to be false when made or was asserted without knowledge of the truth, (3) was intended to be acted upon, (4) was relied upon, and (5) caused injury.”
The court noted that the pastor’s fraud claim “was primarily based on [the pastor’s] financial activities regarding money purportedly belonging to the church.”
According to the church, a $300,000 check “was withdrawn from the church’s account without the authorization of the board of deacons and deposited into a personal account held by [the pastor] and his wife.”
The church also alleged that the pastor sought an SBA loan in the amount of $150,000 using the church’s name and withdrew over $25,000 from general funds belonging to the church via CashApp. After a series of unauthorized transactions, the church sought an accounting of expenditures requesting “bank statements, itemized lists, and receipts’ of anything purchased by [the pastor] while he served as the pastor.” Thus, at the heart of [the church’s] fraud claim, the issue is whether the pastor used his authority to mislead financial institutions when he allegedly misappropriated church funds for his own personal gain.
The court concluded:
At first glance, resolution of these causes of action will require the examination of church documents, church governance, and organizational structures. If this were true, then adjudication of [the church’s] fraud claim would be out of our reach because the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine is a limitation on [the court’s] jurisdiction. However, upon closer inspection, the resolution of these causes of action does not depend on the interpretation of [the church’s] bylaws and constitution or other relevant provisions of governing documents. Indeed, this is an example of a civil law controversy in which a church official happens to be involved. Any interpretation otherwise would inextricably allow church officials that misappropriate church funds to escape liability under the shield of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. . . . Properly exercising jurisdiction requires courts to apply neutral principles of law to non-ecclesiastical issues involving religious entities in the same manner as they apply those principles to other entities and issues. In sum, because the court can adjudicate [the church’s] fraud [claim] by applying neutral principles of law, the trial court properly exercised jurisdiction.
B. Breach of Fiduciary Duty
To prevail in a breach of fiduciary duty claim, a plaintiff must prove that “(1) there is a fiduciary relationship between the plaintiff and defendant, (2) the defendant breached his fiduciary duty to the plaintiff, and (3) the breach resulted in an injury to the plaintiff or benefit to the defendant.”
The church claimed that the pastor breached his fiduciary duty by “converting funds and property to his use without the knowledge or informed consent of the church, by tendering to himself sums without an accounting of disbursements, fees and expenses, and thus misrepresenting the payments made on behalf of the church . . . or paid to himself.”
The court concluded that the church’s allegation that the pastor breached a fiduciary duty could be resolved by the trial court without implicating religious doctrine.
It observed:
[T]hough a church official happens to be involved in this case, his pastoral role does not change our ability to apply neutral principles of law to review whether or not he engaged in self-dealing and misappropriation of church funds. . . . . The court can resolve the dispute regarding the accounting and alleged misappropriation of church funds by applying neutral principles of law.
C. Conversion
Conversion is the unauthorized and unlawful assumption and exercise of dominion and control over the personal property of another to the exclusion of, or inconsistent with, the owner’s rights.
The elements of conversion are:
- (1) the plaintiff owned, had legal possession of, or was entitled to possession of the property;
- (2) the defendant assumed and exercised dominion and control over the property in an unlawful and unauthorized manner, to the exclusion of, and inconsistent with, the plaintiff’s rights; and
- (3) the defendant refused the plaintiff’s demand for return of the property.
A conversion claim is, at its core, a property dispute, which the Texas Supreme Court has expressly declared to be a matter courts can decide using the neutral-principles methodology. . . . Under the neutral-principles methodology, courts decide non-
ecclesiastical issues such as property ownership based on the same neutral principles of law applicable to other entities.
The court concluded that the church’s conversion claim was based on the pastor’s efforts “to assume control of insurance proceeds and real property belonging to the church.” Since the church’s conversion claim could be decided without reference to church doctrine, the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine did not apply.
What this case means for churches
This case demonstrates that the civil courts will not necessarily be barred by the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine from resolving internal church disputes if they can do so on the basis of “neutral principles of law” involving no examination of religious doctrine, governance, or polity.
New Bethel Baptist Church v. Taylor, 2023 LEXIS 6697 (Tex. App. 2023).