The PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN the DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA
v.
TRURO CHURCH, et al.
The Episcopal Church
v.
Truro Church, et al.
Supreme Court of Virginia.https://leagle.com/images/logo.png
June 10, 2010.
June 10, 2010.
Attorney(s) appearing for the Case
George A. Somerville (Bradfute W. Davenport, Jr., Richmond; Mary C. Zinsner, McLean; Joshua D. Heslinga, Richmond; A.E. Dick Howard, Charlottesville; Troutman Sanders, on briefs), for appellant The Protestant Episcopal Church.
Heather H. Anderson (Soyong Cho, Washington, DC; Goodwin Proctor, on briefs), for appellant The Episcopal Church.
Steffen N. Johnson; E. Duncan Getchall, Jr., State Solicitor General (Gordon A. Coffee; Gene C. Schaerr; Andrew C. Nichols; Scott J. Ward; George O. Peterson; Tania M.L. Saylor; Mary A. McReynolds; James A. Johnson; Paul N. Farquharson; Scott H. Phillips; James E. Carr; E. Andrew Burcher; R. Hunter Manson; Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, Attorney General; Charles E. James, Jr., Chief Deputy Attorney General; Stephen R. McCullough, Senior Appellate Counsel; William E. Thro, Special Counsel; Winston & Strawn; Gammon & Grange; Sands Anderson Marks & Miller; Semmes, Bowen & Semmes; Carr & Carr; Walsh, Collucci, Lubeley, Emerick & Walsh, on briefs), for appellees.
Amici Curiae: The American Anglican Council; Presbyterian Lay Committee; Association for Church Renewal (Forrest A. Norman III; Kenneth W. Starr, Los Angeles, CA; C. Kevin Marshall; Christopher J. Smith, Washington, DC; Gallagher Sharp; Jones Day, on brief), in support of appellees.
Amici Curiae; Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia; Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia (Mark D. Loftis; Frank K. Friedman, Roanoke; Gordon B. Tayloe, Jr., Virginia Beach: Samuel J. Webster, Norfolk; Woods Rogers; Kellam, Pickrell, Cox & Tayloe; Wilcox & Savage, on briefs), in support of appellants.
Amici Curiae: General Council on Finance and Administration of the United Methodist Church; Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Gradye Parsons; General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; African Methodist Episcopal Church; The Right Reverend Charlene Kammerer; W. Clark Williams; Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; The Reverend Dr. G. Wilson Gunn, Jr.; Elder Donald F. Bickhart; Virlina District Board—Church of the Brethren, Inc.; Mid-Atlantic II Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Michael McManus; Thomas E. Starnes, Washington, DC; Drinker Biddle & Reath, on briefs), in support of appellants.
Amici Curiae: Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty (Lori H. Windham; Kevin J. Hasson; Eric C. Rassbach; Luke W. Goodrich; Michael W. McConnell, on brief), in support of appellees.
Present: HASSELL, C.J., KOONTZ, KINSER, and MILLETTE, JJ., and LACY, S.J.
Supreme Court of Virginia.
OPINION BY Justice LAWRENCE L. KOONTZ, JR.
These appeals arise from a dispute concerning church property between a hierarchical church and one of its dioceses in Virginia and a number of the diocese's constituent congregations. The principal issue we must decide is whether under the specific facts of these cases Code § 57-9(A) authorized the congregations to file petitions in the appropriate circuit courts for entry of orders permitting them to continue to occupy...
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