The South Carolina Court of Appeals voted today to grant a partial approval to the request by the APR Synod to set aside portions of the Preliminary Injunction put into place by Judge Griffith on April 9th. (Full story on the Appeal is here: http://bit.ly/azuEBX

Here is the report of today’s (Thursday, May 27) action:

Pursuant to the ARP’s Motion, today the Court of Appeals Modified the Preliminary Injunction Language as noted below. In doing so the Court noted that this modification should not be viewed as a determination on the merits of the current appeal, which has not yet been briefed to the Court.

Preliminary Injunction Language from Original Order:
“…pursuant to SCRCP 65, the Court hereby orders that the General Synod and its officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, as well as those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive actual notice of this order by personal service or otherwise are hereby enjoined from:

(i) removing, or attempting or purporting to remove the Board of Trustees of Erskine as it existed prior to March 3, 2010 (the “Existing Board”) or any member thereof, with the result that the Existing Board (taking account of any change in its composition pursuant to Erskine’s Bylaws) will be recognized as the Board of Trustees of Erskine;

(Note: this paragraph above remains)

(Note: the following paragraphs have been removed)

(ii) appointing any new Trustees of Erskine, except for annual appointment of five Trustees to fill expiring terms in accordance with Article II, Section 3 of Erskine’s Bylaws, and except for the filling of vacancies in accordance with Article II, Section 7;
(iii) convening or encouraging the convening of any group other than the Existing Board that claims to be the Board of Erskine;
(iv) declaring any group other than the Existing Board to be the Board of Erskine; and/or
(v) engaging in any transaction or activity in which the restrained party purports to control or act for or on behalf of Erskine, or purports to control or dispose of the property, funds, or other assets of Erskine other than pursuant to authorities or arrangements existing prior to March 3rd, 2010 and only to such extent the actions are undertaken in the restrained party’s capacity as an existing trustee of Erskine or employee of Erskine, and are normal for and appropriate to that capacity.

(NOTE: The original injunction included items (ii), (iii), (iv), and (v) – all four of these have been struck down by the Appeals Court and no longer apply.)

In the Appeal Court motion, the panel of three judges explained their position this way, speaking of the one remaining paragraph of the Injunction – paragraph (i):

“This paragraph appears narrowly tailored to alleviate the threatened harm. No further restrictions on the General Synod are necessary to preserve the status quo between the parties during the pendency of the appeal. Therefore we strike provisions (ii), (iii), (iv), and (v) and accordingly grant the motion in this very limited respect.”

Important to note is that the appeal of the ARP Synod still remains before the Appeals Court. Today’s action merely lifts what the court felt were unnecessary restrictions while the parties are waiting for the case to be heard.

The Aquila Report will attempt to gather some more detailed legal interpretation of this action and report it in the next day or two.