Louisiana Supreme Court dismisses church as defendant in bylaws suit. Check out why
The Louisiana Supreme Court issued a writ last week dismissing the First Baptist Church in Bossier City as a defendant itself but suggested the plaintiffs instead target individual leaders.
The suit, which was one of a pair filed by former members, sought to invalidate the church’s bylaws, which were rewritten in 2014 when Pastor Brad Jurkovich took over, was dismissed in June 2022, with the court citing an expired statute of limitations.
In a second lawsuit centering on the church's financial records, members accused Jurkovich of diverting funds meant for missions, blocking them from seeing financial records and illegally changing the bylaws.
The financial suit is ongoing.
More: Louisiana judge rules in lawsuit involving First Baptist Church Bossier's bylaws
First Bossier, as the church calls itself, is part of the Conservative Baptist Network, a group of Southern Baptist churches that believe the larger Southern Baptist Convention is too liberal and has been taken over by ideas such as critical race theory and women ministers and vows to change the direction of the organization.
In a concurring opinion, Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jefferson Hughes wrote, "The unauthorized acts alleged cannot be said to be 'acts of the corporation.' Rather, they were the acts of the remaining defendants as named in the amended petition, which claims remain viable."
Justice Scott Crichton also concurred.
Check out: 3 things to know about the Bossier City Baptist church lawsuit
They also noted those acts "were acts in furtherance of an unauthorized and perhaps fraudulent coup d’état."
The court noted that amending the bylaws required 30-day written notice to the membership, and after proper notice, a two-thirds vote was required for passing the changes. According to opinion, there is no evidence to support that proper notice was given and "an impromptu voice vote at the conclusion of service does not comply, and there is no evidence to substantiate the vote count."
They also noted that while "the supposed amended Articles were purportedly executed by the'Senior Pastor and President,' " no position with that title existed before or after the new bylaws were passed.
The opinion stated the "coup de grâce is the requirement in the 'new' Articles that the Leadership Team 'will consist of members completely loyal to the church, Senior Pastor, and the ministerial pastors.' One would hope that a Higher loyalty would come into play."
How it started
According to court documents, on or about June 8, 2021, members requested to inspect the church's "corporate records."
The members personally delivered a letter to Jurkovich outlining concerns, including a high rate of staffing turnover, lack of accountability in personnel decisions, lack of accountability and oversight and management of the church's finances and misrepresentation of facts.
The members claimed they initially tried to address their concerns directly with the pastor and hoped to avoid involving the entire congregation.
Jurkovich held a meeting with the members where they claim he "feigned worry" but failed to actually address their concerns and chastised them for "acting in bad faith."
More: Louisiana Southern Baptist pastor ordered to hand over financial records to removed members
The group then sent a letter to the church's finance committee with general questions about finances and a request to view documents. The letter was resent on June 20, 2021, when they received no response.
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On July 6, 2021, Jurkovich sent an email in which he discouraged the group from discussing their concerns with the larger congregation and said, "You either trust and follow leadership or not." He also asserted that if members could not trust their leadership, they should resign.
In August 2021, the members claim they attempted to work the pastor, leading to a four-hour meeting that resulted in Jurkovich not allowing anyone to see the requested financial records.
The group also claims that on Sept. 19 of that year, Jurkovich "used his authority with FBB as a bully pulpit to publicly disparage those who had raised concerns" about the church's finances.
First Bossier live streams and posts its services on its Facebook page. The Sept. 19 sermon is missing, while the Sept. 12 and Sept 26 sermons are available. It is also missing from the church's sermon archive on its website.
On Oct. 3, 2021, 161 members of the congregation sent a letter via email to Jurkovich calling for his resignation.
At the end of October, Jurkovich responded that they could view some documents but included limitations "so extreme, and in violation of both statutory law and corporate governing documents" that it made reviewing the records pointless.
The members claim that the pastor "rigged" the bylaws in such a way that no member can vote on his removal.
On Dec. 14, the members sent a letter to First Bossier through their attorneys reiterating the request to review the records.
The church objected to the request on concerns about protecting the confidentiality of its records.
Members and their attorneys negotiated a "Confidentiality and Protective Agreement" and attempted to view the records on Feb. 15, 2022, seeking to enter the church's office at an agreed-upon time to examine records.
2018: Large fire damages First Baptist Bossier church buildings
The suit claims that despite being given "reasonable notice," the church prevented the members from "fully, fairly and thoroughly exercising their right." They were able to view some records but not the "lion's share," even though the church was told what documents the members wanted to review.
On March 9, the former members Randy Boyett, Gary Cain, Michael B. Cockerham, Ted Hayes, Raymond J. Lasseign, C.A. "Jackie" Lewis, Mike Pearson, Robert Perry, Wade Rasberry, Steve Robinson, Clinton Scates, Henry W. Smith Jr. and Ken Thomas filed suit in Bossier Parish asking the judge to issue a writ compelling the church to "comply with its duties," as well as costs.
On May 16, the church filed an answer to the suit denying all the allegations.
The members requested 34 items; the church produced 17. The judge found that 12 of those 17 were within the scope of what the members should have access to and ordered the information be made available.
Removed as members, money funneled to the network, and other complaints filed
After attempts to view the records failed, the group filed suit on March 9, 2021. Before the filing on March 4 all of the plaintiffs except Cockerham and Scates were sent letters from First Bossier informing them their membership in the church had been revoked.
Scates and Cockerham would later be removed as well.
On May 16, the same group of now former members filed an amended petition for declaratory judgment against First Bossier. The complaint "seeks to annul illicitly-passed articles of incorporation and to hold the leadership of the non-profit organization, First Baptist Church of Bossier, accountable to the congregation as a result of the leadership's lack of transparency, cooperation and adherence to the law."
Additional members Mickey Walker and Ronald L. Worley are named plaintiffs in this suit.
They assert that Jurkovich has set himself up as the "self-orchestrated, unilateral controller" of the church after the bylaws of the church were changed in 2014. The group claims that members were not given adequate notice before the change.
In response to the claim, the church asserts it did, in fact, give written notice of the meeting and that the documents were listed on the website.
The group also claims Jurkovich failed to inform church members about funds meant for missionaries being used to support the Conservative Baptist Network, where he serves as spokesman and a member of the steering council.
060822 FBB Statement by USA TODAY Network on Scribd
In response to emailed questions from The Times, the church previously provided a statement that said, in part, "These lawsuits represent an attempt by former members of First Baptist Bossier to inappropriately litigate an internal church dispute."
Speaking on behalf of her clients, Allison A. Jones counsel for the Plaintiffs stated:
“My clients did not make the decision to file litigation lightly. In fact, it saddened them greatly that litigation had to be filed. I think I speak for all the plaintiffs in the litigation when I say that all they wanted were answers to questions because of concerns that First Baptist Bossier was not being managed properly; that there was mistreatment of staff and volunteers, and that there was strong tendency toward nepotism regarding the hiring of staff. My clients were also concerned that Church leadership of First Baptist Bossier operated with a lack of transparency and resisted the innate democratic process. When a request was made to review financial records; roadblocks were put into place. It was only when the group was denied access to Church records that they were finally forced to take legal action. Once the plaintiffs took legal action, and the Court allowed review of certain records, my clients’ concerns only increased. Those concerns have culminated in my clients filing two amending Petitions and requesting that the Court allow additional discovery. The concurrence of the Louisiana Supreme Court gives us hope that such discovery can be conducted.”
The Louisiana Supreme Court noted, "No legal conclusions can be reached at this time. The matter should be adjudicated after proper discovery and establishment of the facts."
A court hearing to determine further courses of action and if discovery will be allowed is set for February 15, 2024.
Misty Castile is the editor of the Shreveport Times. You can reach her at mcastile@gannett.com or on Twitter at @castilemisty.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: First Baptist Bossier City removed defendant lawsuit over church bylaws
