In the latest court filing involving the Church in South Carolina (TECSC)’s property disputes with the ACNA diocese, TECSC has filed motions to dismiss.
Late yesterday, on Thursday, July 18, 2019, The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) filed multiple motions with the U.S. District Court in Charleston asking the federal court to dismiss motions and counterclaims filed by the Church Insurance Company of Vermont (CIC-VT). In the initial filing on June 11, 2019, TECSC argued that CIC-VT acted in bad faith and secretly funded TECSC’s disaffiliated adversaries in litigation against TECSC. (See previous blog post here.)
CIC-VT’s motion for declaratory judgment, filed three days later on June 14, 2019, was “attempting to justify the decision it already made to fund TECSC’s disaffiliated adversaries in litigation against TECSC,” according to the memorandum of law filed July 18 by TECSC. In addition to the motion for declaratory judgment, CIC-VT also filed a counterclaim and third-party complaint in the bad faith action, as well as motions for joinder and consolidation. (See previous blog post here.)
The memorandum of law filed July 18, 2019, explains why CIC-VT’s declaratory claim, pled in both actions, should be dismissed on the pleadings as a matter of law and equity, and also why CIC-VT’s motions for consolidation and joinder should be denied as “moot and futile.”
The press release goes on to describe the basic outline of the case, and concludes that:
After laying out the many reasons supporting dismissal, the filing notes that CIC-VT’s motions for consolidation and joinder should be denied as “moot and futile.” In addition, it notes that the denial is appropriate because “the addition of numerous parties to the bad faith action initiated by TECSC against CIC-VT is unnecessary and would unduly complicate and prolong that case and burden and prejudice TECSC.”
The memorandum of law filed by TECSC is available in full here.