JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This story was originally published by The Florida Times-Union.
The video above is from a previous report.
Former Celebration Church figures Stovall and Kerri Weems have settled a lawsuit by a bank that argued the couple owed more than $700,000 on loans opened by businesses they ran.
The couple, who in 1998 founded the Jacksonville-headquartered church that they left last year, were sued in May along with three businesses by First-Citizens Bank & Trust.
The lawsuit laid out 19 separate counts arguing the bank was owed a total of about $716,000, but a bank lawyer filed notice at the Duval County Courthouse last month that First-Citizens was voluntarily dismissing the suit “as a result of [an] amicable settlement.”
'At stake is control of the church': Celebration Church, founder Stovall Weems embroiled in legal dispute
More background: Celebration Church hit 'brink of insolvency,' says report claiming fraud by founder Weems
The fallout: Celebration Church founder Stovall Weems quits; vows to 'continue our ministry elsewhere'
Two other court cases involving the couple remain on judges’ calendars, however.
Hearings are scheduled this month on a defamation lawsuit the couple filed against Celebration and its board of trustees, as well as one the church filed to remove the couple from a Black Hammock Island home it bought as a parsonage.
Stovall Weems, whose leadership position at Celebration had been suspended in January 2022 over claims of financial improprieties, resigned in April after he and his wife initially sued to regain his post and undo changes to the church’s bylaws.
After the church then circulated a report that accused Weems of fraud and unjustly enriching himself, the couple converted their lawsuit into a defamation case that a judge dismissed but allowed a new version to be filed again.
Lawyers for the Weemses and the church are scheduled to offer arguments Jan. 23 in front of Duval County Judge Mose Floyd on what rent the church is due from the ejectment case.
The next day, the lawyers will argue I front of Circuit Judge Marianne Aho over whether the new defamation case should be dismissed.