The issue before Judge Murphy was a motion by Church Mutual Insurance to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the Bush group on the basis of failure to bring the case within two years. There was no attorney representing the Bush group, as Judge Murphy had already granted Mr Williams's petition to withdraw from the case. An attorney familiar with the case said this was almost certainly because Mr Williams was not being paid. Judge Murphy quickly granted the Church Mutual motion.
The consensus among the St Mary's contingent seemed to be that the Bush side was basically losing interest in all the cases. The outstanding matters before the courts are now:
- The Bush group's appeal of Judge Strobel's December 2015 ruling restoring the parish to its property. This was stalled in the appeals process, but the activity on the Church Mutual case appears to have broken some sort of logjam. Briefs in this appeal are now due on Monday, April 10. I'm told that Mr Lancaster, Mrs Bush's attorney, actually asked Mr Lengyel-Leahu, the parish's attorney, for a copy of Judge Strobel's decision in recent days, which suggests to observers that Mr Lancaster is also losing interest in the case.
- Mrs Bush's appeal of the California unemployment board's award of benefits to Fr Kelley following his termination by the Bush vestry is due to be argued in mid-May. The feeling seems to be that the court decisions denying standing to the Bush group will probably apply to this appeal as well. I plan to attend this court session.
- Due to a legal Catch-22, it's impossible for the Bush group to appeal Judge Murphy's December 2016 decision dismissing the Bush group's lawsuit against Fr Kelley for lack of standing, because they now lack standing to appeal.
Following that, it appears that the rector and wardens aren't ruling out either recovery of civil damages or pressing criminal charges.
