SOUTH CAROLINA: TECinSC sues Church Insurance Company for Litigation Funds
When all else fails ... sue
A VOL EXCLUSIVE REPORT
By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
October 29, 2013
Lawyers are expensive. Contracting attorneys is an expensive proposition and once a legal representative steps foot into a courtroom it becomes an even more costly endeavor. With The Episcopal Church engaging in court battles in so many American courtrooms - Quincy, San Joaquin, Virginia, Fort Worth and now South Carolina - the legal bills are piling up, even sky rocketing.According to the most recent September Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society ("The Society") Budgetary Year-to-Date Income Statement, The Episcopal Church has spent $245,286 on legal costs, only $82,207 was budgeted leaving a deficit of $163,079 to be filled. Since the first of the year (2013), "The Society" has spent $1,497,903 in legal fees and court costs leaving a $758,042 shortfall. The report also shows that the entire 2013 annual litigation budget is $986,482 making TEC's on-going legal spending at least $511,421 over budget for the first three quarters of the year, a 152% overage with the final quarter of 2013 yet to come. A budgetary report footnote states that some of the legal funds were for "conflict resolution."
A total for all litigation costs is about $22 million.
As a result, it looks as if The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECinSC) is trying to be creative in its attempt to generate finances needed to pay its mounting legal bills in its swelling legal skirmishes against The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina - sue. And who is The Episcopal Church in South Carolina suing? Its own church insurance company: the Church Insurance Company of Vermont, a part of the Church Pension Group.
