God's Hope Builders Inc. v. Mount Zion Baptist Church of Oxford, Ga. Inc.

The record was insufficient to allow the trial court to determine the threshold issue of whether the plaintiffs represented a majority of the church membership and thus had standing to contest the defendants' conveyance of certain church property.

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In this case involving a dispute over church property, Mount Zion Baptist Church of Oxford, Georgia, Inc. the “church”, a domestic non-profit corporation, and 34 individuals claiming to be members of the church, including the church’s pastor collectively “plaintiffs”, filed a lawsuit against Clayton Dial and Angela Ballard, as officers of the church, and God’s Hope Builder’s, Inc. “GHB”, also a domestic non-profit corporation collectively “defendants”, seeking, inter alia, injunctive and declaratory relief. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that Dial and Ballard unlawfully conveyed all of the church’s real property and assets to GHB and, therefore, plaintiffs sought to both enjoin the defendants from wasting the property and to set aside the conveyance. After the parties stipulated to a bench trial on the limited issues of whether plaintiffs had standing to contest defendants’ actions and whether Dial’s conveyance of the property was lawful, the trial court ruled in plaintiffs’ favor and ordered GHB to convey the disputed property back to the church.

However, with other issues remaining unresolved, the trial court did not issue a final judgment. Consequently, defendants filed a motion requesting that the trial court order a meeting to allow the church membership to vote on whether to ratify the property conveyance. Plaintiffs responded by filing a motion for summary judgment, arguing that defendants had no standing to request such a meeting because the church had recently voted to expel them from membership. Following a hearing, the trial court granted plaintiffs’ motion and, shortly thereafter, it granted plaintiffs’ motion for a supersedeas bond.

God's Hope Builders Inc. v. Mount Zion Baptist Church of Oxford, Ga. Inc.

The record was insufficient to allow the trial court to determine the threshold issue of whether the plaintiffs represented a majority of the church membership and thus had standing to contest the defendants' conveyance of certain church property.

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