Judge orders new schedule in federal case

U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel has set May 1 as the earliest date when a trial could begin in the federal false-advertising and trademark infringement lawsuit against a breakaway group that left The Episcopal Church.

The order, issued Wednesday, represents a two-month extension from the previous schedule the judge set in August, which had called for a trial "on or after" March 1.

Currently, Judge Gergel is considering several complex motions seeking summary judgment in the case. A motion for summary judgment is a request for the court to rule that the other party has no case, as a matter of law, because there are no facts at issue. If summary judgment is granted, a trial would not need to take place.  

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina and The Episcopal Church have asked the court to issue a ruling and call a halt to the “pervasive” public confusion caused by a group that broke away from the church, yet continues to use Episcopal names and marks.

The lawsuit, known as vonRosenberg v. Lawrence, was filed in March 2013 by Bishop Charles vonRosenberg, who was the only bishop recognized by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina at that time. Bishop vonRosenberg retired in 2016, and his successor, Bishop Gladstone B. Adams III, was added as a plaintiff in the case. The Episcopal Church and its local diocese, TECSC, also joined the case as plaintiffs.

In April 2018, Judge Gergel ordered the expansion of the lawsuit, adding as defendants to the case the diocesan organization and trustees who are operating under Bishop Mark Lawrence, and the 54 parishes that followed him after the 2012 split. Those groups have been operating under the names “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina” and "Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina," and the confusion created by that is part of the trademark infringement and false-advertising claims.  

In a separate case in state court, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in August 2017 that property of the diocese and 29 parishes must be returned to The Episcopal Church and TECSC. That decision resulted from a state lawsuit filed by the breakaway group in 2013 against The Episcopal Church and TECSC.