Meditation Center of Alabama Lawsuit

The Meditation Center of Alabama (MCA) is a Buddhist based religious non-profit registered 501 (c)3
organization started in 2007. Our mission is “world peace through inner peace” and our goal per our
articles of incorporation is to teach meditation and Buddhist philosophy to people from all religions,
races and walks of life to help people find true inner peace and happiness.

A house (4567 Airport Blvd Mobile, AL 36608) with 2 cottages was purchased in July 2007 to be turned
into a Meditation Center. A Buddhist monk moved into the cottage and meditation classes were held. A
sign was put up stating ‘Thai Meditation Association of Alabama.’ Meditation classes and a robe offering
ceremony with alms offering were held at the house.

MCA applied for Planning Approval on September 14, 2007 to be able to hold meditation classes and
religious ceremonies. A public hearing was held on November 1, 2007. About 32 neighbors came to the
City Hall to publicly oppose MCA citing religious reasons. The City recommended denial of our
application.

A Dhammakaya Buddhist monk came to hold a meditation class in the shopping center owned by MCA’s
director Sivaporn Nimityongskul. The monk encouraged MCA to begin meditation classes in the
shopping center. Thus MCA began operations in 2009. Class was held once a week with an average of 15
students. Monks and Middle Way Meditation lay instructors were skyped in from around the world to
help teach.

Due to MCA being located on one of the busiest streets in Mobile traffic, noise and passerby from the
shopping mall could be heard in every class. Thus MCA desired to relocate to a more tranquil and
peaceful setting in nature conducive to meditation attainment.

In August of 2015, the Nimityongskul family bought 6.7 acres of densely forested land on Dog River
(2410 Eloong Dr Mobile, AL 36605) with hopes to build a Meditation Retreat Center in the forest. MCA
applied for a permit to build a Meditation Hall and 2 live-in cottages for monks and students. A Planning
approval application was submitted on October 15, 2015 and a public hearing was held on December 3,
2015. Many neighbors led by the property’s next door neighbor, a prominent lawyer in town, came to
the hearing to oppose the building of MCA citing traffic, hazardous run off and not being a good fit for
the surrounding community as reasons. MCA held a meeting with the neighbors twice to explain the
purpose of our project and revised our plans to downscale the scope and size of the meditation hall and
cottages. Two planning commissioner meetings were held, and the Planning Commission ultimately
denied our application to build a meditation retreat center. Some of the reasons cited were due to
inadequate access (small road and possible hazard from increased traffic) and not being fit for the
surrounding area.

MCA filed an appeal of the denial to the Mobile City Council and this hearing was held on January 19,
2016. The Mobile City Council denied our appeal and upheld the Planning Commissioners’ decision.

MCA sought justice by filing a lawsuit against the City of Mobile in 2016 in the US District Court. A bench
trial was held for 6 days in 2018 in the Federal Court of Mobile, Alabama presided by District Judge Terry
Moorer. Judge Terry Moorer upheld the City’s decision to deny planning approval of a Meditation
Center on Dog River.
MCA appealed Judge Moorer’s decision at the Appellate Court in Atlanta, which is the Eleventh Circuit
Court of the US in 2018. On November 16, 2020, the Circuit Court issued their opinion that Judge
Moorer mistakenly applied the wrong standard in judging our case and sent the case back to Judge
Moorer to apply the correct standard to MCA’s case.

On February 25, 2021 there will be a conference call between Judge Terry Moorer, the City of Mobile
Lawyers, and MCA’s lawyers, Roman and Blair Storzer from Washington DC along with John Lawler from
Mobile.

Judge Terry Moorer will decide at this time the fate of MCA’s lawsuit case, whether to settle out of court
or have a retrial using a different standard and definition of the law for which to judge MCA’s case. MCA
is waiting for the result of this meeting at this time.