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Choi v. Immanuel Korean United Methodist Church

Res judicata and collateral estoppel did not bar the plaintiffs' lawsuit over their $1.5M donation to a church.

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This case is before us on Woo-Baeg Choi and Shin-Aee Choi’s The Chois appeal from the trial court’s grant of Immanuel Korean United Methodist Church’s the Church motion to dismiss. The Chois sued the Church for the second time, claiming that it had been agreed that their $1,500,000 donation to the church, made in 2005, was for the construction of a new building, that the Church had not yet begun construction on a building, had no plans for doing so, and there was evidence that had come to light since the filing of the previous lawsuit showing that the Church was unable to build a new structure at any time in the foreseeable future, if ever. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss, finding that the claims were barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel. We disagree and reverse.

The record shows that the Chois gave two checks to the church in 2005, one for $1,000,000 and one for $500,000. The checks stated that the money was for a building construction fund and the church pastor acknowledged that the checks were for construction of a new building. The first check was used to buy a $932,147.57 tract of land in 2006. The money from the second check is still on deposit and has not been used.

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