KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Windermere Baptist Conference Center acted within its legal rights when it changed its articles of incorporation, a Missouri appellate court ruled Feb. 3.
A three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, unanimously upheld a lower court’s March 4, 2008, ruling in a nearly seven-year legal battle the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) has waged against five formerly affiliated agencies.
The Nov. 25 appeal hearing was the latest round in legal action the MBC took against Windermere, The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, Word & Way newspaper and the Missouri Baptist Foundation in an effort to force the entities to rescind changes they had made in their corporate charters. In an opinion filed Feb. 3, the appellate court upheld a lower-court ruling that the state convention is not a legal member of Windermere’s corporation and no contract exists between the two organizations.
State law requires that nonprofit organizations state whether the corporation will have members, the justices said, and Windermere’s articles of incorporation state clearly that it does not.
The MBC has 15 days to file a motion for the Court of Appeals to rehear the case. The convention also may ask the Missouri Supreme Court to review the appellate decision.
The convention’s case against the other four entities has been on hold, pending the outcome of the appeal in the Windermere case. No dates have yet been set for those hearings.
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