Liberty Counsel filed a motion in Florida’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Court on behalf of one of the pastors of Coastal Family Church in Flagler Beach to dismiss a meritless lawsuit brought by Flagler Square – JAX, Inc, which is seeking to halt the church’s services from being held at a commercial strip mall. 

In July 2025, Pastor Roderick Palmer purchased a unit in the Flagler Square strip mall to serve as the home for Coastal Family Church. However, after the church began holding services, Flagler Square – JAX, Inc, the condominium association that oversees the mall’s four units, sued Pastor Palmer for holding “public assemblies” that allegedly violate a “condominium declaration” which prohibits such assemblies. In the complaint, the association claims the church’s services “would overwhelm available parking at all times” despite Sunday services leaving more than 160 parking spots available. The association is asking the court to issue an injunction declaring religious services are prohibited on the church’s own property in Flagler Square.

In the motion to dismiss, Liberty Counsel identifies a “game-ending” problem for the association in that discriminatory restrictions and covenants that ban public assembly, like in the condominium declaration, are “rendered null and void” under Florida law. Additionally, prohibiting a church from holding its services in this manner violates the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act (FRFRA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

Whether the association’s proposed restriction is phrased as a ban on public assemblies or an outright prohibition on religious services, it violates Florida’s nullification on discriminatory covenants, as well as the church’s constitutional rights to religious exercise and so the case must be dismissed, wrote Liberty Counsel.

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. 

The selective enforcement of this restriction against religious worship services is discriminatory and unconstitutional, wrote Liberty Counsel. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Florida law is 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. Flagler Square – JAX, Inc. cannot target Pastor Palmer or his church while ignoring other tenants’ non-religious gatherings. This meritless lawsuit must be dismissed.”