Thursday, June 4, 2009

'Everyone just agreed to walk away' from Grace Church dispute


Litigation over the Grace Church property downtown seemed destined to drag on for years.

But all that changed Tuesday.

In a marathon mediation session, the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado agreed to drop its lawsuit against 18 Anglican parish members being sued for damages. Also several motions, including an appeal of the March 24 court decision upholding the diocese's ownership of the Tejon Street church property, were quashed.

"Everyone just agreed to walk away," said Bruce Wright, who represented 17 of the 18 Anglican parish members being sued by the diocese. "It is all over."

"The diocese believed it would be good to agree to end this," said Martin Nussbaum, lead attorney for the diocese in the legal battle for the $17 million church. "All Grace Church property interests will remain with the diocese."

Tuesday's mediation ended a property dispute that began in March 2007, when the vestry of Grace Church & St. Stephen's voted to leave the Episcopal Church, join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) and name Episcopal priest Donald Armstrong as its rector. The CANA parish continued to meet in Grace Church, resulting in lawsuits being filed to determine if the diocese or the CANA parish owned the property.

More here-

http://www.gazette.com/articles/church-55689-diocese-grace.html

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