Diocese of San Joaquin v. Snell CA5
In this case, a local church has disaffiliated itself from a larger, general church with which it had been affiliated. Both the local church, on the one side, and the general church and the diocese wherein the local church is located, on the other, claim ownership of the property on which the local church building stands.
The diocese, as plaintiff, and the general church, as intervener, sought a declaration from the trial court that all property held by or for the local church belongs to them. After a bench trial, the court entered a judgment in favor of the diocese and general church from which the local church appeals.
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