Judge denies restraining order in city lawsuit

By David Hohendorf

The Oakland Circuit Court Judge now assigned the case involving a lawsuit by the city of Birmingham to prevent the sale of The Community House (TCH) issued a denial this week of the city’s request for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to keep the building at 380 Bates Street in the downtown area as a community center.

The city originally filed suit on November 25 in response to a November 3 announcement by officials for The Community House Association of plans to evolve into the Birmingham Area Community Foundation to carry on the original mission of the community group, and the closure and sale of its building in the city effective July 1 of 2026.

Initially the case was assigned to Oakland Circuit Court Judge Martha D. Anderson who on Monday, December 1, reassigned the case to the business court, a division of the circuit court where cases involving businesses are heard.

Judge Michael Warren in the business court was assigned the case on Monday of this week and he issued the ruling over the retraining order by the close of court business the same day.

Warren’s ruling involved the city’s request that the restraining be issued ex parte, meaning that the judge could make a ruling without hearing arguments from the defendant in this case, The Community House Association.

In his denial of the city’s request, Warren said the city of Birmingham failed to demonstrate by “specific facts” that failure to receive the ex parte emergency order would cause irreparable injury.

Warren noted that his denial of the emergency order was not an indication of how he would ultimately rule on the merits of the city’s legal case.

In addition to the lawsuit, the city has also filed a Lis Pendens notice that is now attached to county records of the property, outlining that the city claims an interest in the TCH building and land, as outlined in its court filing, a tactic that often slows down sales activity of a property. 

Officials from The Community House Association have said sale of the building would allow the nonprofit to pay of debt and provide seed money for the foundation. In recent weeks TCH officials have acknowledged that there are deed restrictions on the properety which they contend only come into play if the association is “dissolved” at any point in time but the association is not being dissolved. Instead, the association is changing its name to the Birmingham Area Community Foundation and will be continuing with the nonprofit mission as designated by the original founders of the group but only from a different location in the city. Longstanding deed restrictions provide that if the association is dissolved, then the building must be donated to some other nonprofit organization or rented to the city at a nominal rate.

City officials say that the original intent of the founders of the Community House Association was to build and maintain a community center for use by local residents and selling the building to a third party was a violation of the founders’ intent.

The city commission, which has already met twice in formal closed session on the lawsuit, is expected to call for another executive session during the Monday, December 15, meeting of the group.