New

This action arises out of a dispute concerning the governance of St. John’s Parish Church (St. John’s) that is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States (the Episcopal Church), located in Fallbrook, California. The clergy, members of the governing board and a majority group of its members (collectively, defendants) resigned their membership in the Episcopal Church. When they did so, the Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego (San Diego Diocese) determined that the remaining loyalist members of St. John’s Parish (collectively, individual plaintiffs) constituted the true membership of St. John’s Parish, the resigned dissident members were no longer qualified to serve as members of St. John’s Parish’s governing board, and a new governing board should be elected. The individual plaintiffs elected a new board, but the resigned members of the board, who had since voted to become affiliated with an Anglican Church in Africa (Anglican Church), refused to relinquish their seats, or control over the assets of St. John’s Parish, which were held by a corporation known as St. John’s Parish corporation (Parish corporation).

The individual plaintiffs and the San…