Judge Indicates He Will Deny TECSC's Motion to Dismiss Betterments Case

Five weeks after the last hearing before South Carolina Circuit Judge Edgar Dickson regarding a lawsuit filed by the breakaway group that has come to be known as the Betterments Case, the judge has indicated he will deny The Episcopal Church in South Carolina’s (TECSC) Motion to Dismiss the case. The official judge’s order is expected to be offered the first week in September, and no ruling has been made on the actual Betterments case before the judge.

​Chancellor Thomas Tisdale, Jr. said, “Our preliminary  motion seeking a dismissal of the betterments lawsuit has been denied by the court. This does not affect any of the issues in the case going forward, which we believe have no merit.”

​The Betterments case was filed in November 2017 and cites the little-used Betterments Act statute to seek compensation from TECSC and The Episcopal Church for the cost of improvements made to the properties over the years. That suit followed a decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court on August 2, 2017 ruling that all diocesan property and the property of 29 parishes is held in trust for The Episcopal Church and TECSC.
 
Attorneys for TECSC and The Episcopal Church argued the grounds for dismissal of the case during the hearing before Judge Dickson on July 23, per their motion filed on December 15, 2017.  It is this motion that has been denied by this ruling, and by itself it does not involve any issues of the case before the judge.
 
The news comes one week ahead of scheduled mediation between The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) (together with The Episcopal Church) with the group that broke away from the Church in 2012. The parties are seeking mediation in regard to the ongoing dispute over enforcing the South Carolina Supreme Court’s 2017 decision on diocesan and parish properties, as well as this case on the Betterments Act. The first session will be held on September 4, 2019, in Charleston.