Fr Kelley made the claim based on his termination as rector of St Mary of the Angels by the Bush group after they seized the property. The Bush group alleged that Fr Kelley had stolen funds from the parish. Administrative judges repeatedly ruled that there was no evidence for this allegation, and Fr Kelley was finally awarded full benefits. Even after Fr Kelley was paid, the Bush group has continued its appeal.
In May, Mr Anastasia requested that the judge move the case forward another six months, to December 6. The EDD agreed. This was part of he Bush group's strategy to delay its appeal of the main case against Fr Kelley, which it had lost in 2015, and then ask that all related actions be postponed until the appeal was resolved. The session on December 6, this past Wednesday, was expected to be yet another request to delay the case again. As a result, Fr Kelley told me the session was likely to be just like the short May session, with attorneys calling in by phone, and the judge allowing another continuance. As a result, I decided not to attend.
However, Fr Kelley did attend, and there were a few surprises. Fr Kelley reports,
In the course of the mysteries in court, this came up:Further,09/01/2017 at 09:31 am in Department 86, Amy D. Hogue, Presiding
Motion to be Relieved as Counsel - Granted
Judge Amy Hogue began by making the point that under CA Law, a Corporation MUST be represented by an Attorney. She then revealed that Anastasia had abandoned the Plaintiffs. (I had not observed that on line previously...)So Lancaster & Anastasia had quietly been relieved as counsel for the Bush group and others in all the related cases over the summer. The reason is presumably the same as the other requests to be relieved, non-payment.
The Judge replied that she couldn't act summarily, but had to give "them" another 90 days to appear -- March 7, 2018, at which time, if they did not, she could consider "abatement" or "dismissal" of the case. (She was wracking her brain for the former term, uncertain that she'd hit upon exactly the right term.)It appears that the Bush group's agenda has slowly been coming apart, primarily in recent months for lack of money to pursue legal cases. We know that in August 2014, following the appeals court's ruling in the legal vestry's favor in the Rector, Wardens, and Vestry cases, the Bush group took out a $575,000 mortgage on the parish property, presumably to pay legal bills. But by October 2015, the previous tenant of the commercial property had moved out, and by early 2016, the Bush group had been evicted, leaving them unable to raise additional funds.She inferred that it might be possible to submit a Motion (for Summary Judgment??) by Pal, to clear it all up prior to March 7.
That's where proceedings ended.
In their July petition to be relieved as counsel, Lancaster & Anastasia said they hadn't been paid since 2015. Whatever may have happened to the $575,000, it doesn't seem to be available to pay counsel now.
