MOUNDSVILLE – A circuit court judge has granted a temporary restraining order and temporary injuction to a fraternal lodge after the national head of the Knights of Pythias moved to shut down the organization’s operations across West Virginia in what the lodge calls a “personal vendetta.”
Leaders of the Knights of Pythias’ West Virginia lodge filed a petition for injunctive relief July 31 in Marshall Circuit Court accusing national Supreme Chancellor Donald L. Stamm of abusing his authority to suspend the state organization’s charter and effectively shut down its charitable work across the state.
On August 3, Marshall Circuit Court Judge C. Richard Wilson granted the restraining order and injunction.
“The suspension went into effect on July 1, 2026,” Wilson wrote in his 14-page order. “The harm was immediate, is ongoing and is irreparable. The harm is not only irreparable, it is fatal to the existence of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia.
“The Grand Lodge cannot operate at all with the suspension in effect. It now has no authority to enter into contract or perform under existing ones, its bank accounts have no authorized signatory and its properties have no ownership. The Grand Lodge of West Virginia cannot hold meetings, conduct business, make motions, hold votes or take any action as a body in the furtherance of its purpose in West Virginia.
“The suspension has rendered the Grand Lodge dead.”
In the original petition, Grand Chancellor Clifton W. McDonald and Grand Secretary James Kudlak along with the Grand Lodge of the Grand Domain of West Virginia and all of its members ask the court to block Stamm from enforcing a June suspension of the West Virginia lodge. The petitioners seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction restoring the lodge’s charter and operations.
The legal action stems from a long-running internal disciplinary battle between the West Virginia organization and Stamm, who once belonged to the state lodge. The petition alleges the Grand Lodge expelled Stamm after two hearings that afforded “due process and significant internal legal procedures” at both the state and national level, before he later rose to become Supreme Chancellor of the national order.
According to the filing, the Knights of Pythias — a fraternal charitable organization created by an act of Congress in 1894 — operates under a Supreme Constitution and statutes that govern the Supreme Lodge, Grand Lodges and subordinate lodges. The West Virginia lodge contends those rules give the Supreme Chancellor limited authority to suspend a Grand Lodge’s charter, and only “in conformity with any Supreme Statute then in force governing the matter.”
The petition traces a series of confrontations involving Stamm at West Virginia Grand Council and convention sessions dating back to 2018, including allegations that he threatened lodge officers with banishment, declared meetings “illegal,” and, during a 2022 convention, used his national office to engage in electioneering and “threatened bodily harm on a brother Knight.”
The filing also cites a post-convention incident in which lodge members intervened when Stamm allegedly challenged a past grand chancellor to “go out into the parking lot and settle it,” behavior the petition characterizes as a violation of the state’s malicious assault statute.
After the Grand Council authorized disciplinary charges, the West Virginia Grand Lodge voted in July 2023 to expel Stamm from the Order but rescinded that action at the request of a Supreme Lodge officer pending a due process hearing before the Grand Lodge’s tribunal.
A tribunal hearing was held June 17, 2024, in Bridgeport. The petition says Stamm was notified by registered mail but did not appear personally or through counsel, and that the tribunal again voted to expel him. The lodge says the Supreme Tribunal ultimately upheld the expulsion after further hearings and appeals.
Despite that decision, the filing states, the matter was “effectively reopened” at the Supreme Convention in August 2024 when Stamm was permitted to seek and win the office of Supreme Chancellor. Following his election, prior tribunal rulings favorable to the West Virginia lodge were rescinded, and the Grand Lodge was informed that an apology was expected for bringing disciplinary charges against Stamm.
The petition says the Grand Lodge refused, maintaining it had acted within its constitutional authority.
The filing also details a series of communications in May and June 2026 in which, according to the petitioners, Stamm and a Supreme Law Committee official pressed for an apology and warned the Grand Lodge that Stamm would “pull the charter” if none was issued. On June 19, the lodge received written notice that the Grand Domain of West Virginia had been suspended, shutting down all Knights of Pythias operations in the state effective July 1.
The suspension “shuts down the Knights of Pythias in West Virginia and entirely blocks its authority and ability to hold meetings, perform its charity and benevolent work, and exist as a charitable organization,” the petition says, alleging that the action has left the Grand Lodge unable to enter or perform contracts, access bank accounts or protect lodge property.
The notice of suspension, according to the filing, did not cite any factual basis, reference any Supreme Statute authorizing the move or assert charges against any individual in the West Virginia lodge.
West Virginia law requires nonprofit corporations to follow their own bylaws and rules, the plaintiffs argue, and the Knights of Pythias’ governing documents do not authorize a unilateral suspension of a Grand Lodge charter based on a refusal to apologize to a previously expelled member. The petition accuses Stamm of “blatant abuse of authority” and of misusing disciplinary provisions designed for the impeachment or removal of individual officers and members, not the suspension of a state lodge.
The Grand Lodge contends it faces immediate and irreparable harm without an injunction. It says it can’t conduct business, hold meetings or carry out its fraternal and charitable mission.
“The suspension has rendered the Grand Lodge dead,” the petition states, adding Stamm would suffer no harm if the suspension is blocked, beyond being prevented from “ongoing revenge and vendetta” against the lodge.
In his Monday morning order, Wilson said the petitioners’ likelihood of success on the merits “seems high,” and he said the public interest in having an active lodge is “very high.”
“The Grand Lodge supports local needs around the State of West Virginia through charitable work, fellowship events and community programs,” Wilson wrote. “The suspension stops all of this work that benefits West Virginia communities around the state.”
Wilson also scheduled a full hearing on the matter for August 17.
The petitioners are being represented by Teresa Toriseva and Joshua D. Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. The case originally was assigned to Circuit Judge Jeffrey D. Cramer, but it was transferred to Wilson.
Marshall Circuit Court case number 26-P-68
