From Stedfast Baptist Church v. Fellowship of the Sword, Inc., decided yesterday by the Texas Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Justice Wade Birdwell, joined by Justices Dana Womack and Mike Wallach:
Seeking declaratory relief construing the default provisions of a commercial lease to exclude constitutionally protected religious speech, as well as an award of damages for breach of the lease by wrongful eviction, Stedfast Baptist Church sued Fellowship of the Sword, Inc., a Texas non-profit corporation operating as a Christian ministry in district court….
In July of 2020, Stedfast, … executed a 63-month commercial lease with Fellowship, as one of several tenants in a multi-tenant commercial property on West Bedford–Euless Road in Hurst, Texas. The lease itself consisted of standard forms promulgated by the Texas Association of Realtors, Inc. and expressly acknowledged the leased premises would be used for religious purposes as a church, with contemplated hours of operation from 6:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m., Sunday through Saturday. Beginning August 1, 2020, the term of the lease ended on October 31, 2025….
Crucial to the dispute that eventually arose, Section 10(A) of the lease expressly prohibited the following activities on any part of the leased premises or the multi-tenant property generally:
A. Tenant may not use or permit any part of the leased premises or the Property to be used for:
(1) any activity which is a nuisance or is offensive, noisy, or dangerous;
(2) any activity that interferes with any other tenant's normal business operations or [Fellowship's] management of the Property; …
(4) any hazardous activity that would require any insurance premium on the Property or leased premises to increase or that would void any such insurance; ….
As alleged by Fellowship, the dispute over the lease arose because [Stedfast pastor Jonathan] Shelley posted sermons online that Fellowship viewed as having advocated for violence against and celebrated the deaths of members of the gay community.
