KANSAS CITY, Mo. (ABP) — In a single sentence, the Missouri Court of Appeals turned down a
motion for a rehearing in the continuing legal struggle between the Missouri Baptist Convention and five related
institutions.
The order, issued on Aug. 2, overruled the motion for a rehearing and denied the agencies' motion for the case to be
transferred to the Missouri Supreme Court. Lawyers for the entities have until Aug. 17 to directly petition the Supreme
Court to consider the case. MBC attorneys would have 10 days in which to respond to the agencies' request.
Attorneys for The Baptist Home, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist University, Word&Way and
the Missouri Baptist Foundation filed a request for rehearing with the Appeals Court on June 15 in response to a
preliminary opinion the court issued May 31.
In that opinion, the three-judge appellate panel reversed Cole County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Brown's March 2004
decision to dismiss legal action against the five institutions.
In 2000 and 2001, the five institutions changed their charters to allow each entity to elect its own trustees. The
Executive Board and six affiliated churches filed legal action against the five agencies on the convention's behalf in
August 2002.
Judge Brown had ruled the plaintiffs did not have the legal right to file the action on the convention's behalf. The
appellate judges agreed that the Executive Board as a corporation and the six churches did not have standing. Both Judge
Brown and the appellate court recognized messengers as members.
However, the court held that the Executive Board has the legal right to sue as a representative of the convention
because the board is composed of members, and members elect its officers.
Entity attorneys are considering requesting the Supreme Court to review the case, because even if a “membership
link” exists, the Appeals Court did not identify which “members” have legal standing to file a lawsuit.
MBC attorneys have indicated that if the case is returned to Cole County, they would seek to combine it with a second
lawsuit the convention and five individuals filed in Oct. 2004.
That case is pending before Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan until the appeals process in the first
lawsuit is completed.