JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — A second lawsuit involving the Missouri Baptist Convention and five affiliated institutions has been put on hold pending the outcome of an appeal in an earlier, similar lawsuit.
At a hearing on April 5, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan decided to defer action on a lawsuit the Missouri Baptist Convention filed against Word and Way newspaper, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, Missouri Baptist University and the Baptist Home last October.
However, Judge Callahan agreed to proceed with the institutions' motion to consider who has standing — or the legal right — to bring legal action on behalf of the convention.
The Missouri Baptist Convention and five individuals filed the second lawsuit, even though another judge ruled in March 2004 that the convention's Executive Board and six affiliated churches did not have standing to file the original suit.
The board and churches appealed, and oral arguments in that case will be heard April 20. The March 2004 ruling did not clarify who has the legal capacity to bring legal action against the five corporations and to represent the MBC.
The Baptist Home changed its charter in 2000 to allow its trustees, rather than the Missouri Baptist Convention, to elect its board. The other four entities changed their charters in 2001.
Convention attorney Michael Whitehead told the judge the second lawsuit “raises a number of new issues not raised in the prior case,” including allegations of conspiracy among the five entities.