Masterson v. Diocese of Northwest Texas
Texas Supreme Court
422 S.W.3d 594 (2013)
- Written by Elizabeth Yingling, JD
Facts
Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd (Good Shepherd) in San Angelo, Texas, joined the Diocese of Northwest Texas (diocese) in 1974 and, in its bylaws, agreed to recognize and adopt the canons and constitution of the diocese and to become a member of the national Episcopal Church. In 1979, the diocese added a new canon (the Dennis Canon) that provided that all property held for the benefit of any parish be held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the diocese in which such parish was located. The Dennis Canon also provided that Good Shepherd had authority over the church property as long as Good Shepherd remained a part of the Episcopal Church. In 1982, the diocese conveyed the church property to Good Shepherd. In 2006, a majority of Good Shepherd parishioners, including Robert Masterson (collectively, Masterson) (defendants) voted to revoke any property trusts, amend Good Shepherd’s bylaws to remove any references to the Episcopal Church, withdraw Good Shepherd from the diocese and the Episcopal Church, and reorganize under the Diocese of Uganda. The diocese, by and through its bishop, recognized the right of the parishioners to leave the church but stated that the church property belonged to the diocese. Masterson refused to vacate the church premises. The minority of the Good Shepherd parishioners, the leaders of the Episcopal Church, and the diocese (plaintiffs) sued Masterson. The Texas Court of Appeals held that the property belonged to the diocese. The case came before the Texas Supreme Court, which considered, in part, the appropriate methodology a court should use for ruling on church-property disputes.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Johnson, J.)
Concurrence (Boyd, J.)
Dissent (Lehrmann, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.