Denomination, clergy settle lawsuit over retirement fund

The Nashville-based African Methodist Episcopal Church and some of its clergy members reached a settlement agreement on Monday to end a lawsuit related to retirement fund mismanagement. One clergy member initially filed the class-action lawsuit against the church and other entities in March 2022, according to the law firm Kantor & Kantor, LLP. Other clergy and retired church employees later joined the lawsuit.

Can you tell me a bit about the church? The denomination was founded in 1787 in response to racial discrimination at Methodist churches in Philadelphia at the time, according to the AMEC’s website. In 2019, it comprised about 7,000 congregations and at least 2.5 million members, according to a report from the University of Southern California’s Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement.

What was this lawsuit about? The plaintiffs alleged that, through poor investments and bad financial decisions, the church lost $90 million from a retirement fund for clergy members and retired employees. The plaintiffs alleged that the church then unlawfully reduced the amount of money it was paying out to its retirees after losing the money. The AMEC in May 2022 sued several companies involved in the investments and ventures, and its former retirement services executive director Jerome V. Harris. The church accused Harris of embezzling money from the retirement fund before he retired from the church.

Jerome Harris was never found liable for the claims made against him. He died earlier this year from a heart attack, according to Religion News Service. He was also remembered for serving as senior pastor of the historic Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma, Ala., according to an obituary from his family. In a statement on Facebook following his death, Harris’ son Chris called his father his superhero.

Last year, some of the claims directed against the two companies targeted in the lawsuit were dismissed.

What does this settlement agreement do? It ends the lawsuit against the AMEC by former clergy members and retired church employees. Both the retirees’ and the church’s lawsuits against the companies allegedly associated with the embezzlement scheme are still ongoing. Representatives from both sides promised to work for the return of the funds stolen through the embezzlement scheme.

Dig deeper: Read Andrew T. Walker’s column in WORLD Opinions about how amid tragedy, the world needs a church.