Spears Manning & Martini Attorneys Successfully Defend United Methodist Church in Suit Implicating the First Amendment
In late 2023, the Firm’s client, part of the United Methodist Church, was sued in Connecticut state court by a local Methodist church seeking to separate from the wider UMC because of differences over church views on same-sex marriage and the ordination of homosexual clergy. The local adversary relied on recently enacted church doctrine that permitted a local church to disaffiliate and still retain its property. Spears Manning & Martini moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Article I, section 3 of the Connecticut State Constitution and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution barred the court from becoming enmeshed in ecclesiastical questions. Rejecting the local Church’s argument that the court could evaluate its disaffiliation claim using “neutral principles of law,” the court held that “analyzing whether the requested declaratory relief regarding disaffiliation could be granted would clearly and impermissibly entangle the court in questions of religious doctrine and policy.” The local church has brought additional claims, including a claim to quiet title, as well as equitable claims of quantum meruit and unjust enrichment, which are pending.
This decision brings Connecticut courts in line with the reasoning of many other jurisdictions throughout the nation that have barred such disaffiliation claims from judicial review.
Spears Manning & Martini attorneys Joseph Martini and Armel Jacobs are defending the case on behalf of the Firm’s client.
N. United Methodist Church v. New York Ann. Conf. of the United Methodist Church, No. HHD-CV24-6178162S, 2024 WL 3873499, at *1 (Conn. Super. Ct. Aug. 14, 2024)