Greetings,

   One of the things that I have found fascinating as the property dispute escalates is that the PC(USA) news service has been absolutely silent, until today...sort of.

The PC(USA) News Service has today issued a press release trumpeting their success in three cases in Southern California with a fourth case pending.

HOWEVER, these cases have one thing in common which the developing cases do not appear to have:  The all involve divided congregations.  It is not clear that in the case of a unified congregation wanting to leave the PC(USA) that this case law would apply.

Furthermore, in at lease two of the cases, Torrance v. Hanmi and Serone v. Hanmi, I'm not sure what the News Service is trumpeting.  If you go to the LA Superior Court web site and type in the case numbers (BC332180 and BC327134 respectively), both cases are listed with a status of pending and the Torrance specifically indicates pre-trial motions.  Now the Serone case may be substantially over on July 20 when a motion for summary adjudication was denied and the PC(USA) news service indicates that a confidential settlement was reached.  The Torrance case is acknowledged as going to trial so the PC(USA) is promoting success with an injunction and pre-trial hearings.