By Bob Allen
The Missouri Baptist Convention has received $5 million in a settlement with the insurance company representing one of five breakaway agencies that moved to self-perpetuating trustee boards in 2000 and 2001.
After a dozen years of litigation, the statewide affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention received payment Jan. 6 from Church Mutual Insurance Company, insurer for the Missouri Baptist Foundation, for court costs and legal fees.
A judge in June ordered the Foundation to pay attorneys’ fees and court costs of nearly $3,684,326 that accrued from Aug. 13, 2002 — when the MBC filed legal action — through Dec. 31, 2010, plus 9 percent interest until the debt is paid. The Foundation appealed the ruling to the court of appeals in Kansas City.
“We are grateful for the settlement with Church Mutual on behalf of the foundation, which enables us to recover most of the legal fees incurred in our efforts to restore the Foundation to the MBC family,” said John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. “As we have always maintained, we gladly welcome back the Foundation if it seats the duly elected trustees and returns to its corporate charter in which Missouri Baptists, not independent boards, govern its ministry.”
Chris Calmer, Missouri Baptist Foundation president, said the Foundation had no part in negotiating the settlement and was surprised that Church Mutual would pay the money while the case is under appeal.
“Insurance companies are required to manage their risks, and Church Mutual made a unilateral decision to settle the financial claims of this case despite not having a final ruling from the courts,” Calmer said.
The settlement allows the convention to continue efforts to return governance of the Foundation to a convention-elected board of trustees. It has no impact on similar lawsuits pending with Missouri Baptist University and The Baptist Home retirement center.
The convention dropped its lawsuit against the Missouri Baptist newspaper Word and Way in 2010. The convention lost its lawsuit against Windermere Baptist Conference Center but recently purchased a portion of the property sold to a third party that went bankrupt.
Attempted mediation of the remaining legal disputes broke down early last year over the issue of governance. Yeats said “historic Baptist trusteeship” is non-negotiable with Missouri Baptists, as is the right of the convention to approve all charter changes.
Larry Guess, chair of the Missouri Baptist Foundation board, said the action taken by the Foundation in 2001 was to protect its ability to fulfill its fiduciary duties to its clients and all Missouri Baptists.
“The action was not taken to cause any injury to the convention or the churches which are affiliated with it,” Guess said. “Despite the suggestion in the press release from the convention to the contrary, the Foundation has honored and respected ‘historic Baptist trusteeship’ throughout the 12 years of this litigation. It will continue to do so in the future.”
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Missouri Baptist Foundation may face hefty debt in long-standing court battle