Court Rules in Favor of Cathedral Church
March 20, 2006
A federal district court in New York allowed Cathedral Church of the Intercessor to proceed with its RLUIPA claims. The church had sued the village of Malverne for delaying and issuing stop work orders on the construction of its new place of worship. In an earlier ruling, the court dismissed the church’s RLUIPA claims, stating that the village had not completely denied the church permission to build. The church re-filed, providing further allegations about the nature of the stop-work orders and land use applications. This time, the court let the claims go forward: “The allegations…amply support Plaintiffs' claim of a substantial burden on the exercise of religion.” Those allegations included difficulty carrying out various parts of Sunday worship services; lack of space for Sunday School, counseling and other activities; lack of space for Sunday worship services; and cutting short Sunday services due to space constraints.
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