The response was filed with the South Carolina Court of Appeals in Columbia on May 5 officials said, on behalf of three members of the Board of Trustees — Richard Taylor, Parker Young, J. David Chesnut — and the Erskine Alumni Association.
The preliminary injunction issued April 9 by Judge Eugene Griffith Jr. was ordered “to maintain the status quo as it existed prior to the General Synod’s March 3, 2010, actions” during a called meeting at Bonclarken in Flat Rock, N.C. At that meeting the General Synod approved of measures that included removal of 14 trustees from the Erskine College and Seminary Board of Trustees, established an interim Board, which has not been seated, revisions to the Board bylaws and changes in the Board nomination process. The result of those actions was a lawsuit filed by Taylor, Young, Chesnut, and the alumni association and Griffith ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor.
On April 19, the appeal was filed on behalf of the General Synod with the S.C. Court of Appeals in Columbia and a copy was filed in the Abbeville Clerk of Court’s office, as is required. The attorneys for the General Synod filed a motion in the Court of Common Pleas in Abbeville, asking for the complaint filed by Taylor, Young, Chesnut and the alumni association to be dismissed.
The General Synod is also asking for the Court of Appeals to “suspend or modify” the preliminary injunction that is being appealed based on several reasons — “to remove constitutionally offensive provisions,” to “remove vague and ambiguous provisions,” and “failure to provide the required bond.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs countered all claims for dismissing the complaint, as well as turning aside the preliminary injunction.
The document filed with the Court of Appeals equated the General Synod’s actions in March to the “corporate-law equivalent of a midnight coup of Erskine College, by purporting to remove Erskine’s existing Board without cause or notice, and by declaring a new interim Board … to be the true Board.”
The attorneys said since the Erskine bylaws allow removal of Trustees only for cause, the attempted action by the General Synod was “unlawful and void.”
The document claims the preliminary injunction was “appropriate and necessary.”
The response says that the motion to “suspend or modify” the preliminary injunction should be denied for the following reasons:
• Although not styled as such, this is a motion for supersedeas (an order by an appeals court commanding a lower court not to enforce or proceed with a judgment or sentence pending the decision on the appeal or until further order of the appeals court) and appellant has not complied with the clear requirements of SCACR 241(d), which requires the application for a suspension or stay of an injunction to be made to the lower court.
• Appellants’ contentions in its motion are not preserved for review.
• The restrictions in the injunction are neither overbroad nor unconstitutional. Appellant’s core contention is that it has the right to declare who is on the Erskine Board, and to convene that Board. The injunction appropriately forbids Appellant from exercising that power. The injunction does not limit Appellant’s ability to express disagreement with the decision… only to purport to act by declaring its interim Board to be Erskine’s true Board or by calling that Board into a meeting.
• The court’s requirement of cash security is consistent with the rules, and does not provide a basis for suspending an injunction.
Attorneys say the General Synod is entitled to file a reply to the response, meaning a decision is at least a couple of weeks away, according to college spokesman Rick Hendricks.
Campus life at Erskine continues according to the schedule. On May 15 College President Randall T. Ruble hands out diplomas for the last time as president. Ruble plans to retire June 30.
–Erskine College information and public relations office
