Judge allows California church's lawsuit against former pastor to move forward

A Los Angeles judge tentatively ruled on January 5, 2010 that a lawsuit can move forward against a prominent black church pastor accused of misusing church assets.
Frederick Murph of Brookins Community African Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife, Rachel, are accused of encumbering church properties for more than $6 million.
Judge Rolf M. Treu said he was not inclined to throw out the complaint filed July 29 by the church.
Defense lawyers contended that the church's Book of Discipline sets guidelines that the church must follow in taking any legal action against a pastor. Treu said defense lawyers failed to show how the procedures apply to a former pastor or Murph's wife, who is not a member of the clergy.
The judge did throw out an embezzlement claim against the couple, saying there is no such action in civil law. He said church lawyers would have to provide more information to support fraud and breach-of-contract claims.
Treu scheduled a hearing tomorrow on his tentative rulings. The Murphs have denied wrongdoing.
According to the complaint, Murph was the pastor at the Brookins church from 1996 until his transfer to another South Los Angeles congregation in November 2008.
The new Brookins pastor, Joseph Nixon, discovered the alleged encumbrances and determined that only Murph had access to the church records and that he had not followed internal rules to get approval for any such actions with the steward or trustee boards, according to the complaint.
"Nixon discovered that Murph took out three mortgages from the Bank of America encumbering four of Brookins' properties, including the main church facility,'' the lawsuit states. "Murph committed fraud by forging signatures or church members to loan documents and creating resolutions from Brookins' trustee board and church conference ostensibly authorizing these loans ...,'' according to the complaint.
Murph also used $1.3 million of the financing for his personal use, the lawsuit states.
Rachel Murph "assisted her husband in this fraud,'' according to the lawsuit.