Bjorkman v. Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America of Diocese of Lexington

LAMBERT, Justice.

Upon the secession of St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church of Bellevue and Dayton, a Kentucky Corporation (St. John’s), from the hierarchical church organization, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Diocese of Lexington (PECUSA), a dispute arose as to the ownership of the church property. After hearing the evidence and applying the “neutral-principles of law” doctrine authorized in Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595, 99 S.Ct. 3020, 61 L.Ed.2d 775 (1979), the trial court held that St. John’s was the owner of the property. Reversing, the Court of…