Church Claim Against Summers End Rejected in District Court

The chief federal judge in the Virgin Islands recently rejected a challenge by the Moravian Church in the Virgin Islands to block a developer from building a marina in Coral Bay, St. John. Chief District Judge Robert A. Molloy said that church officials could not prove their claim about the harm that would be caused if developers with the Summers End Group built their project along a portion of the Coral Bay coastline.

Molloy’s March 28 order granted developers a summary judgment, a favorable ruling without going to trial. In doing so, the judge also denied a similar request from the Moravian Church. The matter was dismissed without prejudice and the clerk of the court was ordered to declare the case closed.

The 21-page opinion that preceded the order said the court could not rule in favor of the church because their claim that letting Summers End build their proposed marina would crowd out their plans to build a marina of their own.

For that reason, the judge said the church lacked the legal standing to sue Summers End

The judge also pointed out that the church did not produce a permit proving their intent to build a marina. Also rejected was a claim that the permit granted in Act 8407 denied the church the right to protect submerged lands to be developed as part of the project; rights they said were part of a public trust granted under the Coastal Zone Management Act.

Molloy called that claim “meritless.”