Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church

Two local Georgia congregations, Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church and Eastern Heights Presbyterian Church (plaintiffs), withdrew from the national Presbyterian Church in the United States (defendant), believing the national church had departed from its constitution and doctrine; the national church accepted the withdrawals but sought to reclaim the local church properties, which were titled in the local churches' names. In consolidated suits, the trial court instructed the jury that the properties were held in trust for the national church only so long as it did not fundamentally or substantially abandon its original tenets, and the jury found the national church had done so, terminating the implied trust in the local churches' favor; the national church appealed.