FLAGLER BEACH, FL –Liberty Counsel filed a response in Florida’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Court asking the court to deny a motion aiming to block a church from defending itself in litigation that currently prevents church congregants from religious gatherings on its own property.

Over the last eight months beginning in January 2026, an unconstitutional injunction from the Seventh Judicial Circuit has kept Coastal Family Church in Flagler Beach, Florida closed for Bible study, prayer, or religious worship. The injunction stems from a lawsuit from the church’s property association, Flagler Square – JAX, Inc., which seeks to stop the church from meeting on its own property citing parking congestion and a restrictive covenant that it interprets as banning “public assembly.”

Flagler Square – JAX, Inc. seeks a protective order to block the church from obtaining virtually all documents and information necessary to defend itself from the association’s claims in the normal discovery phase and truth-finding process of the case.

Flagler Beach police confirm with Coastal Family Church leaders on Sunday, January 25, 2026, that no in-person worship services are being held in accordance with the injunction.

“That is not only astounding, but absurd,” reads the response. “One cannot initiate litigation and tie a defendant’s hands behind their back, blindfold them, and then proceed to the merits against the disabled and disadvantaged defendant.”

The law requires more, stated Liberty Counsel.

Coastal Family Church is requesting discovery of information directly relevant to the central issue of the case, including the meaning of the term “public assembly” in the restrictive covenant; whether the church has actually caused parking problems; and whether the association has enforced the assembly restrictions consistently against other tenants.

The response notes that the association has made broad objections to producing this information but has not provided conclusive evidence to justify withholding it.

The response also notes that the church obtained approvals from the City of Flagler Beach to operate at the property while restrictive covenants that prevent religious gatherings are invalid under the U.S. Constitution and Florida law. 

While the association claims the church’s services “would overwhelm available parking at all times,” Sunday services have left more than 160 parking spots available. Notably, the association’s restrictive covenant 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. However, the property management company has used police to ensure the church abided by the injunction and did not hold religious services.

As this appeal proceeds in Florida state court, Liberty Counsel has also brought a separate lawsuit in federal court against the state judge who issued the unconstitutional injunction. The lawsuit names the Honorable Sandra Upchurch, in her official capacity as Circuit Judge for the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit for Flagler County, Florida, as the defendant.

The injunction is unconstitutional because it “categorically prohibits” assembly, speech, expression, and religious exercise by forbidding congregants from gathering at all. The court order is an unlawful “prior restraint” on the church’s First Amendment assembly right, reads the lawsuit.  

Since the injunction is a “state action” that imposes a total ban on First Amendment-protected activity, it cannot evade constitutional scrutiny and should be vacated, Liberty Counsel concluded.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “A blanket protective order blocking discovery of relevant information to the church’s defense is both improper and imbalanced. Court rules and standards compel discovery rather than shield plaintiffs from it. 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 Coastal Family Church has the right to hold church services on church property and that restrictive covenants cannot ban religious assembly. This motion must be denied and then the injunction must be overturned.”

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