Jackson v. Presbytery of Susquehanna Valley

265 A.D.2d 253, 697 N.Y.S.2d 26, 1999 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10854

Opinion

—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Franklin Weissberg, J.), entered on or about January 27, 1999, which granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff, a Presbyterian minister, claims to have been defamed by statements made by other Presbyterian ministers reflecting adversely upon his fitness to continue serving as a minister. Inasmuch as the statements concerned plaintiff’s ministerial qualifications, however, adjudication of the dispute would impermissibly involve the court in matters left by constitutional design for ecclesiastic resolution (see, Yaggie v Indiana-Kentucky Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church, 860 F Supp 1194, affd 64 F3d 664; see also, Downs v Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, 111 Md App 616, 625-626, 683 A2d 808, 813). Concur — Sullivan, J. P., Tom, Rubin, Saxe and Buckley, JJ. [See, 179 Misc 2d 704.]