Huber

The principal issue in this appeal is whether a local parish or the general church and its diocese own property held in the parish’s name, after the parish vestry and a majority of the congregants voted to disaffiliate the parish from the general church and affiliate with another church. After the parties completed their briefing, the California Supreme Court resolved the church property issue against a local parish in a case with facts substantively the same as those here. We are, of course, bound by that precedent. (Episcopal Church Cases (2009) 45 Cal.4th 467 [ 87 Cal.Rptr.3d 275 , 198 P.3d 66 ].) Further, under our opinion in New v. Kroeger (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 800 [ 84 Cal.Rptr.3d 464 ] (Kroeger), we reject the assertion the trial court erred by finding that by voting for disaffiliation, defendants lost the authority to direct the parish corporation, and thus their purported amendments to the parish’s governing documents were ultra vires. As there are no material facts requiring trial, we affirm summary judgments for the general church and its diocese.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Episcopal Church, also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church (hereafter…