Kansas City — The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, will hear arguments in the Missouri Baptist Convention's appeal of its first case against five related institutions on April 20 in Kansas City.
A three-judge panel for the court's Division 4 will consider the appeal following four other cases. They will begin hearings at 9 a.m.
Chief Judge Edwin H. Smith, Judge Robert G. Ulrich and Judge Patricia A. Breckenridge already have received documents related to the case, which was originally filed in the 17th Judicial District Court in Cole County.
The MBC filed legal action on August 13, 2002, to try to force The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, Windermere Baptist Conference Center and Word&Way to rescind new charters that allowed the institutions to name their own trustees.
On March 11, 2004, Cole County Presiding Judge Thomas Brown dismissed the suit after ruling that the convention and six representative churches did not have standing to file the action. The MBC filed notice of appeal in April.
The six churches include Springhill Baptist Church, Springfield; Oakwood Baptist Church, Kansas City; Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City; and First Baptist churches of Branson, Bethany and Arnold.
