KANSAS CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Five Missouri Baptist Convention-related entities are seeking a rehearing of a recent appeal that returned an ongoing lawsuit against them to a lower court.
Lawyers for The Baptist Home, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist University, Missouri Baptist Foundation, and Word & Way newspaper filed a request for rehearing with the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, on June 15. At the same time, they also filed a request for the case to be transferred to the Missouri Supreme Court should the appeals court decide against granting a rehearing.
The appellate court could withdraw its opinion and issue a revised one, allow the attorneys to reargue the case at the appellate level, or deny the request altogether. The court has no deadline by which it must respond. If the appellate court turns down both requests, the entities themselves can ask the Missouri Supreme Court to consider the case.
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.