PHILIP C. HOUSEMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
SUMMIT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL OF PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, INC., LAWSON A. WRIGHT, WILLIAM RYAN, JOHN PATTEN, PETER BONO AND SHIELA VAN ES, APPELLEES
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Houseman, a former pastor and school director, appealed the trial court's dismissal of his multi-count complaint against Summit Christian School. The court affirmed dismissal of four counts but reversed the dismissal of the breach of contract claim for retirement benefits, holding that the claim did not create excessive entanglement with religious beliefs under the First Amendment.
The trial court properly dismissed four counts of the complaint with prejudice, but improperly dismissed the breach of contract claim. Accepting the allegations in the complaint as true, Houseman sufficiently pleaded a breach of contract action, and entertaining the claim does not create excessive entanglement with religious beliefs.
[1] A breach of contract claim against a religious school is sufficiently pled when the complaint alleges entitlement to retirement benefits pursuant to a contract with the s…
[2] A breach of contract claim against a religious school does not create an excessive entanglement with religious beliefs when the facts alleged in the complaint do not requ…
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Accepting the facts as alleged in the complaint as true, it is clear that Houseman has sufficiently pled a breach of contract action against the School.”
Establishes the standard for evaluating the sufficiency of the breach of contract pleading
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHouseman served as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church and director of the affiliated Summit Christian School. He resigned as pastor and was subsequently…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant Phillip Houseman (Houseman) is the former pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church of Palm Beach County (the Church) and the former director of the Summit Christian School (the School), which is a separate entity affiliated with the Church. Houseman resigned as pastor and was replaced as the director of the School several months later. After being removed as director of the School, Houseman filed a multi-count complaint against the School and several members of its newly elected board of directors. The trial court dismissed four of the five counts in Houseman’s complaint with prejudice, and this appeal followed.
We hold the trial court properly dismissed with prejudice the counts in Houseman’s complaint, with the exception of the breach of contract count. Houseman’s breach of contract count claimed entitlement to retirement benefits pursuant to a contract purportedly entered into with the School. Accepting the facts as alleged in the complaint as true, it is clear that Houseman has sufficiently pled a breach of contract action against the School. See Sarkis v. Pafford Oil Co., Inc., 697 So. 2d 524, 526 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997).
The Third District Court of Appeal addressed a similar issue in Goodman v. Temple Shir Ami, Inc., 712 So. 2d 775, 777 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998). In Goodman, the rabbi of the temple (Goodman) filed a complaint ' for defamation and breach of his employment contract. The trial court found it had no subject-matter jurisdiction over Goodman’s claims and dismissed his causes of action against the temple as constitutionally barred. Although the dismissal of the majority of Goodman’s claims was affirmed on appeal, the Third District held the trial court had jurisdiction over Goodman’s breach of contract claim because it did not, under the facts alleged in the complaint, create an excessive entanglement with religious beliefs. We find the reasoning in Goodman persuasive and hold that Houseman’s breach of contract claim, under the facts alleged in the complaint, did not create an excessive entanglement with religious beliefs.
Accordingly, we reverse the dismissal of Houseman’s breach of contract claim. The order is otherwise affirmed. . This case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.
KLEIN, STEVENSON and HAZOURI, JJ., concur. ”
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Citator
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Kond v. Stefan Mudryk, 769 So. 2d 1073 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)…ellants correctly argue that the trial court could have determined whether the church and its Board acted in compliance with the procedural requirements of the church’s by-laws. See Houseman v. Summit Christian Sch. of Palm Beach County, Fla., Inc., 762 So. 2d 979 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)(reversing the dismissal of a former director’s breach of contract claim against a school affiliated with a church because the claim did not “create an excessive entanglement with religious beliefs”); Doe, 718 So. 2d at 288; Rolle…
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The Word OF Life Ministry, Inc. v. Miller, 778 So. 2d 360 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)…tral legal principles only, precedent supports judicial resolution of the parties’ dispute over corporate assets, the corporation’s religious purposes notwithstanding. See generally Houseman v. Summit Christian Sch. of Palm Beach County, Fla., Inc., 762 So. 2d 979, 980 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000); Doe v. Evans, 718 So. 2d 286, 288 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Hemphill v. Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church of Pensacola, Inc., 447 So. 2d 976, 977 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Umberger v. Johns, 363 So. 2d 63, 65 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978); Ro…
Authorities Cited
- Nader W. Sarkis and Nazih W. Sarkis v. Pafford OIL Co., Inc., 697 So. 2d 524 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
- Rabbi Robert A. Goodman v. Temple Shir AMI, Inc., 712 So. 2d 775 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)