| Elim Christian Assembly v Sider |
| 2007 NY Slip Op 50422(U) [14 Misc 3d 1238(A)] |
| Decided on March 7, 2007 |
| Supreme Court, Richmond County |
| Gigante, J. |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. |
Elim Christian Assembly, Plaintiff,
against Bishop Craig Sider, Pastor Carlos Ortiz and Brethren in Christ, Defendant(s). |
Upon the foregoing papers, plaintiff's motion application for an injunction is denied, and the proceeding is dismissed.
By order to show cause dated August 2, 2006, Shyne Payne, a purported member of the Board of Trustees of plaintiff Church, commenced this special proceeding on behalf of Elim Christian Assembly to permanently enjoin the named defendants, inter alia, from selling or transferring its premises located at 498 Manor Road, Staten Island, New York. It is uncontrovered that on or about June 11, 2006, Bishop Craig Sider of the Brethren in Christ (hereinafter "BIC") informed the congregation of Elim Christian Assembly that Pastor Carlos [*2]Ortiz was resigning, and that all services at the Church would end on July 30, 2006[FN1]. He further stated that the church building was to be sold by BIC. It has been alleged in support of the injunction that Elim Christian Assembly never became a member of BIC and, therefore, it possesses no authority to sell the property at issue. Defendants move to dismiss the proceeding (see CPLR 404[a]) on the ground, among others, that Payne lacks the requisite standing to sue on behalf of the nominal plaintiff, Elim Christian Assembly.
Section 5 of the Religious Corporation Law pertinently provides that "[t]he trustees of every religious corporation shall have the custody and control of all the temporalities and property, real and personal, belonging to the corporation and of the revenues therefrom". However, individual board members are nowhere given the authority to act on behalf of the religious corporation (see Matt of Cong. Anshe Kesser [Jewish Community Ctr.], 5 AD2d 1011, 1012 [2d Dept. 1958]; Krehel v Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, 22 Misc 2d 522, 523-24 [NY Co 1959], affd 12 AD2d 465, affd, 10 NY2d 831). "Only when acting as a board may trustees of religious corporations perform or authorize acts binding on the corporation" (see Krehel, 22 Misc 2d at 524; Religious Corporations Law § 5).
Moreover, the within proceeding is both procedurally defective (see CPLR 6311[1]) and, since church property cannot be sold without leave of court (see Religious Corporation Law § 12; Not-for-Profit Corporation Law §§ 510, 511), premature as well (cf. Not-for-Profit Corporation Law § 510; Matter of Lutheran Church of Our Savior, 290 AD2d 509 [2d Dept. 2002]; Matter of Friends World College v Nicklin, 249 AD2d 393 [2d Dept. 1998]).
Finally, to the extent that plaintiff seeks to interject this Court into matters affecting the internal governance of a religious institution, it is without jurisdiction (cf. Berger v Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, 303 AD2d 346, 347-48 [2d Dept. 2003]).
Accordingly it is
ORDERED that the application is denied and, the proceeding is dismissed; and it is further
ORDERED that the stay contained in the Interim Order dated December 14, 2006 is vacated, and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk enter judgment accordingly.
E N T E R,
______________________________
Robert J. Gigante
Dated: March 7 , 2007JSC