United Methodist Conference Sues West Virginia Church Over Property Trust Clause
The Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church announced on September 20 that it filed a federal lawsuit on September 15 against Calvary United Methodist Church in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to defend the denomination's trust clause, the longstanding rule that church property is held in trust for the benefit of the wider denomination. Calvary is one of 37 congregations that sued the conference in Maryland state court in 2023 seeking to leave with their property outside the conference's disaffiliation process; that case was dismissed and is now on appeal. In March, Calvary's attorneys sent the conference a letter declaring the church had already separated from the denomination.
Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling said in announcing the lawsuit that she acted "with regret," writing, "It grieves my heart that we have arrived at a place where the Conference has no viable alternative but to pursue relief in our civil courts." The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, is the latest example of a regional United Methodist body turning to federal court to resolve a property dispute with a departing congregation after a state court case stalled.
