Acting Anglican Church in North America primate the Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs has filed a federal defamation lawsuit against the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones over allegations that Bishop Dobbs misappropriated funds while leading a predecessor jurisdiction to ACNA.
Bishop Dobbs, acting archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America and bishop of the Diocese of the Living Word, filed a defamation complaint on 17 February 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The suit names as defendants the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, former head of ACNA’s chaplaincy jurisdiction, and his independent jurisdiction, which has since left the province. According to the complaint, Jones is alleged to have engaged in an “all-out campaign” to damage Dobbs’ reputation and, by extension, the reputation of ACNA.
At the center of the dispute are claims made by Jones that Dobbs “stole” or “absconded with” approximately 48,000 dollars sent by Jones’ chaplaincy to the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a now-dissolved jurisdiction previously led by Dobbs. Jones repeated versions of this allegation in at least three venues in 2025: a September Zoom call with chaplains, an October filing in his trademark lawsuit against ACNA, and a December interview with The Washington Post. Exhibits filed with the court show that Jones’ earliest documented complaint in 2019 concerned $3,750 he believed had been deposited into the wrong account, with the larger $48,000‑dollar figure later attributed by Jones to an internal chaplaincy estimate.
Dobbs’ complaint states that subsequent reviews within the church found no evidence of financial misconduct on his part. A letter from a certified accountant submitted in the lawsuit indicates that the $3,750 in question were placed in the wrong bank account in 2019 but were properly recorded in the books and spent for the intended purposes. Dobbs’ lawyers argue that Jones and his jurisdiction “knew or recklessly ignored” that internal investigations and reviews had cleared Dobbs, yet continued to make and amplify accusations of misappropriation.
The 25‑page complaint alleges that Jones’ statements constitute defamation because they accuse Dobbs of criminal behavior and financial dishonesty in his ministry. The filing says the defendants made these statements repeatedly “in the public record” and in media interviews in a way calculated to turn Anglicans in North America and abroad against Dobbs and ACNA leadership. Dobbs is seeking compensatory damages for harm to his personal and professional reputation, punitive damages in an amount to be determined by a jury, and a full retraction of all allegedly defamatory statements.
The contested allegations about Dobbs’ financial conduct first came to wider public attention in late 2025 through reporting on internal ACNA disputes and in federal litigation between the province and the chaplaincy jurisdiction. After Jones’ accusations became public, several ACNA leaders and bodies issued statements supporting Dobbs’ handling of finances. Then‑Archbishop Foley Beach wrote to the College of Bishops that the allegations against Dobbs “were investigated fully and found to be without merit,” while Bishop Felix Orji and the standing committee of the Diocese of the Living Word also affirmed their confidence in Dobbs’ stewardship.
Dobbs has consistently and categorically denied any wrongdoing, describing Jones’ accusations as “recycled charges” that are untrue and defamatory and as a serious attack on his character and on the Diocese of the Living Word. In his court filings, Dobbs characterizes the renewed circulation of the allegations in late 2025, including in a Washington Post article, as “character assassination” that has caused him great distress and damaged the relationship of trust between bishop and flock. Jones, for his part, has not yet filed a response to the defamation complaint in the Alabama federal court.
The lawsuit unfolds against a backdrop of wider disciplinary and governance challenges within ACNA. Dobbs currently serves as acting primate while Archbishop Foley Beach’s successor, Archbishop Steve Wood, remains inhibited pending an ecclesiastical trial on charges of sexual and personal misconduct. ACNA has also opened canonical proceedings against Jones, whom it continues to regard as under its jurisdiction despite his declaration of separation and his role in founding a breakaway body. The canonical charges against Jones include refusal to follow a godly admonition, disobedience to provincial authority, and causing scandal by alleged mistreatment of chaplains and the promotion of schism.
The federal defamation case is still at an early stage, and no court has yet ruled on the merits of Dobbs’ claims or Jones’ defenses. A spokesman for the ACNA declined to comment on the pending litigation.