City of Brookings Lose Another Round in its Legal Battle Against St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church

BROOKINGS, Ore. — The City of Brookings has agreed to pay $400,000 in legal fees after losing an acrimonious legal battle against St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in an attempt to limit free meals for homeless people served by the church.

The Church Will Maintain its Charitable Work for Marginalized People Living in the Neighborhood

St. Timothy’s brought the case in 2022, and Tuesday’s court ruling finds the City of Brookings financially poorer and having to turn around its meals ordinance that challenged St. Timothy’s charitable services to needy people in the neighborhood. Apart from free meals, the services included assisting people to access housing and health care.

Father Bernie Lindley Says the Legal Battle Was a Constant Source of Stress

Father Bernie Lindley welcomed the court’s decision instructing Brookings City to pay the church’s legal fees. This followed the court’s dismissal earlier this year of the city’s revised meals ordinance.

Describing the legal battle as a constant source of stress, Father Lindley said he was relieved that the matter was finalized and that the church could get back to serving its marginalized community.

While the legal proceedings took place, St. Timothy’s never stopped serving four meals a week to about 75 displaced people in a meals program it launched in 2009. The frequency of the meals program expanded during the pandemic when the church was granted a temporary permit to allow people to camp in its parking grounds.

However, in 2021 people living alongside and adjacent to the church sent a petition to the city asking for intervention measures to stop the influx of homeless people into the neighborhood.

Father Lindley says attempts to discuss the problem with city officials were unsuccessful, and the church decided to bring the lawsuit in which they argued that serving marginalized communities was part of their members’ faith. A federal judge agreed with the church and ruled in its favor last March.

St Timothy’s then filed a motion to recoup legal fees and, rather than prolonging litigation, the Brookings city council voted to settle the claim at a meeting on Monday. The city council has also repealed the meals ordinance, and withdrawn its objections to other charitable services, such as access to housing and health care.

Winners Are the Law Firm and Losers Are the Neighborhood Residents

Brookings councilor Andy Martin said the winner of the settlement was the law firm and that the losers are residents who have to deal with the problem.

Recipients of the legal fee settlement agreement are Stoel Rives LLP ($375,000) and Oregon Justice Resource Center ($43,000).