Opinion ID: 1508286
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Court of Chancery New Castle County Action Corporate Charter Restoration Declared Void Ab Initio

Text: Several weeks later the Bishop executed and Shearin notarized a document entitled Certificate of Restoration, Renewal or Revival of the Certificate of Incorporation of the African Union Methodist Protestant Church and Connection (the Certificate). The Certificate was filed with the Division of Corporations with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on June 5, 1995. The Court of Chancery denied subsequent motions for relief from the July 1995 judgment and for a new trial. The Court of Chancery concluded that the motions were predicated upon the basis of manufactured evidence, specifically, the Certificate. By order of the Court of Chancery dated September 22, 1995 (September 1995 Order), it ruled that the assistance by Shearin in the preparation and filing of the Certificate was a willful act of contempt in violation of the second final judgment that had been entered in July 1995. See Mother African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church v. The Conference of African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church, Del. Ch., No. 12055, Jacobs, V.C. (Sep. 22, 1995) (ORDER) aff'd The Conference of African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church v. Mother African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church, Del. Supr., No. 408, 1995, Veasey, C.J., 1996 WL 554245 (Sep. 23, 1996) (ORDER). The September 1995 disposition by the Court of Chancery characterized the assertions contained in the Certificate as utterly and knowingly false, and as having been made with the purpose of circumventing the orders of the Court of Chancery. The September 1995 decision by the Court of Chancery declared the Certificate to be null and void ab initio. The Court of Chancery stated that the filing of the Certificate was the latest manifestation of their [Shearin, the Bishop and the Conference] contumacious refusal to accept and abide by the determinations of the Orders of the Courts of this State in this action. Mother African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church v. The Conference of African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church, Del. Ch., No. 12055, Jacobs, V.C. (Sep. 22, 1995) Order at 5, aff'd The Conference of African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church v. Mother African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church, Del. Supr., No. 408, 1995, Veasey, C.J., 1996 WL 554245 (Sep. 23, 1996) (ORDER). The Court of Chancery subsequently referred the September 1995 Order to the ODC for possible disciplinary action against Shearin.