FLAGLER BEACH, FL – Liberty Counsel filed an appeal to Fifth District Court of Appeal of an order issued last Friday afternoon by the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court that prevents Coastal Family Church from continuing to hold worship services on its property. The appeal on behalf of Pastor Roderick Palmer of Coastal Family Church requests an immediate stay and reversal of a temporary injunction that prohibits the church from holding in person worship services at its Flagler Beach location.

The January 23 injunction, which took immediate effect, is an unconstitutional restriction on the First Amendment rights of speech, assembly, and religious exercise, and violates Florida law by preventing the church from using its own property to gather and worship. The church has already suffered irreparable harm from having been forcibly closed for one Sunday service.

In August 2025, a lawsuit against Coastal Family Church arose after the property association, Flagler Square – JAX, Inc, sought to enforce a restrictive covenant prohibiting “public assembly” at the properties in the Flagler Square strip mall. The church argues that the covenant is ambiguous, selectively enforced, and unlawful under both state and federal law. The association claims the church’s services “would overwhelm available parking at all times” despite Sunday services leaving more than 160 parking spots available. Notably, the condominium declaration also prohibits strip mall units from being used as discount stores, banquet halls, bingo parlors, or other places of public assembly.

However, Flagler Square is home to a consignment store, and a Fraternal Order of Police lodge that regularly hosts bingo nights and rents their facility to the public for public assembly. Despite no evidence of parking problems, and after the city formally approved the church’s zoning special exception, the trial court still issued an order preventing religious gatherings on the property.

The court order to bar a church from using its own property for worship constitutes “a prior restraint” on speech, assembly, and religious exercise, which is “the most serious and least tolerable form of infringement on First Amendment rights,” noted Liberty Counsel.

Courts have consistently held that closing a house of worship triggers a loss of First Amendment freedoms, which even briefly, causes irreparable harm. The order has already prevented the church from meeting for one Sunday worship, and each additional week the injunction remains in place would inflict compounding constitutional injury that cannot be undone, such as potential drop in attendance, as well as a decline in donations required to maintain operations, pay staff, and serve its community.

“No pastor, church, or parishioner in America should be forced to choose between worship and contempt,” wrote Liberty Counsel.  “Yet the order imposes an extraordinary burden – shutting the doors of Coastal Family Church and forcing the pastor to bar his congregants from accessing their own church to worship, receive communion, and fellowship together during the pendency of this civil action.”

In addition to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, there are several Florida laws that protect the church, including:

• Fla. Stat. § 712.065 — Prohibition on Religious Discriminatory Covenants. The statute automatically void covenants that discriminate based on religion. The motion argues that the “public assembly” restriction is being selectively enforced against the church while other tenants routinely hold public gatherings, making the covenant discriminatory and void.

• Fla. Stat. §718.123 — Right of Owners to Peaceably Assemble. Condominium declarations may not unreasonably restrict assembly in common areas. Because the association’s alleged concern is parking, a common element, the statute directly protects the church’s parking lot use.

• Fla. Stat. 761 — Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The injunction imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise without demonstrating a compelling government interest pursued through the least restrictive means.

Also, under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, judicial enforcement of a land use regulation, such as the condominium covenant, qualifies as state action and is subordinate to federal protections.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “This injunction unconstitutionally shutters a house of worship with no compelling government interest to do so. Every Sunday that the doors of Coastal Family Church remain closed inflicts irreparable spiritual and constitutional injury on its congregation. The U.S. Constitution and Florida laws are clear that Pastor Roderick Palmer and Coastal Family Church have the right to hold church services on church property and that restrictive covenants cannot ban religious assembly. This injunction must be stayed and reversed.”

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