SAN DIEGO: Judge says Episcopal Diocese can't amend lawsuit

By: SCOTT MARSHALL - Staff Writer
North Country Times
February 1, 2007

VISTA ---- A Superior Court judge Wednesday denied a request from the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego to raise new legal claims in a lawsuit against a Fallbrook church that already had been decided in the church's favor, an attorney for the church said.

Judge Jacqueline Stern's ruling means St. John's Anglican Church, which split from the diocese in July, continues to own the property at which the church meets, continues to meet at that location, and remains governed by the board of directors in place at the time of the split, attorney Eric Sohlgren said.

Stern ruled in November that a "purported election" Aug. 7, 2006, of a new board of directors for part of the congregation that wanted to remain part of the Episcopal Diocese was not valid, leaving the previous governing board in place.

Attorneys for the parish believed that ruling ended the lawsuit, but attorneys for the diocese said then that a dispute still could exist about whether the diocese owned the church property instead of the church itself.

Sohlgren said Thursday that the diocese asked Stern for permission to amend its lawsuit to add legal claims related to the property, but Stern denied that request because her November decision already had ended the case.

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