Atheist activist Patrick Greene lost his lawsuit today against Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Corpus Christi, Texas—a church represented by First Liberty Institute—admitting that his lawsuit was “baseless,” and submitting to a court order never to bring such a frivolous lawsuit in the future.
Updating Breitbart Texas’ report by Lana Shadwick on Monday about Greene’s suing Abundant Life Fellowship when Pastor Rick Milby started building a 230-foot cross on his church’s property. Greene’s lawsuit claims that a church’s erecting of a cross on private property is unconstitutional because a local mayor and city council members attended the church’s groundbreaking ceremony.
As detailed in the previous report, Greene has a record of repeatedly bringing lawsuits that many consider “vexatious,” meaning predatory lawsuits that have no merit, but are designed to threaten and harass defendants into abandoning actions that are perfectly legal in order to avoid or end the lawsuit.
During a court hearing on Tuesday morning before Judge Missy Medary of the 347th District Court of Nueces County, Greene entered into a court-approved settlement agreement. In it, he confesses that his lawsuit was “baseless,” “without merit,” and “vexatious.” He is also bound by the court’s order to stop bringing frivolous lawsuits in the future, lawsuits which are designed to prevent Americans from freely exercising or expressing their faith.
Pastor Milby announced, “We are overjoyed that we were able to reach a favorable settlement so we can get back to building the cross and pointing people to Jesus.”
Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty, added, “Today’s outcome should send a clear message to anti-religious freedom activists everywhere: if you abuse the legal system by suing people simply because you don’t like how they exercise their religion, there will be legal consequences.”
First Liberty Institute also constructed a webpage with the case’s facts and court documents.
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