Rhodes v. Westside Free Will Baptist Church

Tom Glaze, Justice.

The case involves a dispute over church property. Claiming ownership of the property, Reverend Vivan Rhodes and his wife, Pearl, brought this action, requesting the appellees be enjoined from entering or trespassing on it. Appellees, representatives and trustees of the Westside Free Will Baptist Church (Westside Baptist), answered and counterclaimed, and, among other things, denied the Rhodes’s allegation of ownership. After the Rhodeses presented their case-in-chief at trial, appellees moved to dismiss the Rhodes’s complaint, saying the Rhodeses had failed to make a prima…