Ex parte the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, Inc., and the General Council on…

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court denied mandamus relief, holding that the petitioners had not shown a clear legal right to dismissal of Harvest Church-Dothan's property action for lack of subject-matter or personal jurisdiction. The court concluded that the complaint presented a church-property dispute that could potentially be resolved under neutral principles of law without deciding ecclesiastical questions, and that the challenge to jurisdiction over the GCFA was not supported by minimum-contacts or service-of-process arguments. The underlying action therefore remained pending in the trial court, without any ruling on the merits of ownership.