Diocese of San Joaquin v. Nelson
In 2007, the St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church of Stockton, which is a corporation (Parish Corporation), decided to disaffiliate itself from the Episcopal Church (Church) over doctrinal differences. The Diocese of San Joaquin (Diocese) of the Episcopal Church filed an action for declaratory relief against the Parish Corporation, claiming that the property retained by the Parish Corporation is owned by the Diocese and Church. The Diocese also named several individual defendants: the Parish Corporation’s priest and members of the Parish Corporation’s vestry and board of directors (Individual Defendants). The Diocese does not seek damages; instead, it seeks declarations that the Diocese owns and is entitled to possess and control the property and that, upon disaffiliation, the Individual Defendants could no longer act on behalf of the Parish Corporation.
The Individual Defendants demurred to the complaint. The trial court sustained the demurrer, citing Code of Civil Procedure section 1061, which gives the court discretion to deny declaratory relief if the relief is not “necessary or proper at the time under all the circumstances.â€[1] The Parish Corporation was not a party to the demurrer proceedings and remains as a defendant in the action.
The Diocese appeals. It claims the trial court did not rely on section 1061 to dismiss the action as to the Individual Defendants and, therefore, the only relevant inquiry is whether the demurrer was sustained on the merits of the action, which inquiry requires a de novo, rather than an abuse of discretion, standard of review. The Diocese argues for the first time in its reply brief on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion under section 1061.
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