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The Pure Presbyterian Church of Washington, et al. v. The Grace of God Presbyterian Church

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Virginia, No. 171098 · judgment August 16, 2018


Dismissed · January 18, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The trial court entered its Final Order disposing, inter alia, of Church Property, predicated upon a judicial determination that Grace Presbyterian was the successor church to Pure Presbyterian, which was held to have been extinguished by merger. The question presented is whether this determination is beyond the constitutional competence of a secular court to resolve, even employing neutral standards, and thus was entered without subject matter jurisdiction.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Earle Duncan Getchell Jr.
McGuire Woods LLP

For respondent

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 18 2019
    Petition Dismissed - Rule 46.
  2. Jan 17 2019
    Stipulation to dismiss the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 46.1 filed.
  3. Jan 02 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/18/2019.
  4. Nov 13 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 17, 2018)