Freemason Splinter Group Wards Off Fraud Claim Over Use of Name

A Freemason splinter group that adopted a name similar to the council it left isn’t liable for holding itself out as an extension of that council because no one was shown to have been defrauded, the Fourth Circuit said Oct. 30 in an unpublished ruling.

The defendants had been members of the United Supreme Council, 33 Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Prince Hall Affiliation, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of American, also known as USC-SJ I.

After unsuccessfully trying to oust the council’s leaders for allegedly misappropriating funds, the defendants left USC-SJ I and ...