Opinion
2021-05315 2020-01303
10-05-2021
Rhona Wilson, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Christ Alive Christian Center et al., Defendants-Respondents. Index No. 303128/12 Appeal No. 14286
Heslop & Dominique, LLP, Brooklyn (Garfield A. Heslop of counsel), for appellant. Koster, Brady & Nagler, New York (Jason J. Lavery of counsel), for respondents.
Heslop & Dominique, LLP, Brooklyn (Garfield A. Heslop of counsel), for appellant.
Koster, Brady & Nagler, New York (Jason J. Lavery of counsel), for respondents.
Before: Webber, J.P., Singh, Scarpulla, Mendez, Rodriguez, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Howard H. Sherman, J.), entered on or about October 7, 2019, which granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The motion court correctly found that this case involves a nonjusticiable controversy under the First Amendment (see Matter of Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar, Inc. v Kahana, 9 N.Y.3d 282, 286 [2007]). While plaintiff contends that the $230,000 payment she made to defendants five years before the action was commenced should not be considered a tithe, the record shows that the payment was, in fact, a tithe, and that plaintiff made it voluntarily. Tellingly, the $230,000 check made out to defendant Christ Alive Christian Center stated "tithe" in the memo section. The issues of plaintiff's motivation for tithing, and the proper amount of the tithe necessarily implicate the interpretation of religious doctrine and cannot be resolved through the application of neutral principles of law (id.).
We have considered plaintiff's remaining arguments, to the extent preserved, and find them unavailing.