… the decision of the court has even wider potential application as the Court of Appeal said that even if PCUS 6-8 did not apply to negate the trust clauses, state trust law must be followed in order to create an enforceable trust. In this case, the court determined that state trust law was not followed

The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal issued its opinion in the church property dispute between the tiny Carrollton Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and the Presbytery of South Louisiana (PSL). The court adopted the rationale presented by Carrollton and affirmed the trial court’s ruling in favor of the local church.

Mary Koss, Carrollton’s clerk of session, commented that, “Carrollton is very pleased with what we believe is the right decision in this case. We are anxious to have this case behind us and move forward with the business of being the church. This has preoccupied our time and talent and resources for far too long, but we recognized that staying the course was not only for us, but for lots of other churches for whom our case sets a precedent. We wanted to do whatever we could to help them.”

Koss is referring to the precedent set in this case for thousands of other churches that participated in Reunion but voted, as the Book of Order allowed, to retain authority over their particular congregation’s real and financial property.

The Court of Appeal said that the application of PCUS 6-8 (through timely vote on G-8.0701) negates the PCUS and PCUSA trust clauses.

But the decision of the court has even wider potential application as the Court of Appeal said that even if PCUS 6-8 did not apply to negate the trust clauses, state trust law must be followed in order to create an enforceable trust. In this case, the court determined that state trust law was not followed. The Court made it clear that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Jones v. Wolf did not say, as the Presbytery contended, that the mere addition of a trust clause in the denominational constitution sufficed to create a valid and enforceable trust.

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