Lawyers for the Bible Speaks Church have filed notice they plan to appeal a federal judge's decision upholding the $6.6 million claim of an heiress who charged she had been duped into donating money. The notice, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, said the fundamentalist church plans to ask a federal appeals court in Boston to overturn U.S. District Judge Frank Freedman's decision in the case. In January, Freedman upheld a U.S. Bankruptcy judge's ruling supporting a $6.6 million claim against the church by heiress Elizabeth Dovydenas. Mrs. Dovydenas, of Lenox, maintained that she was duped into donating the money by church founder and president Carl H. Stevens. Meanwhile, a trustee appointed by the Bankruptcy Court said Tuesday he hoped to receive additional bids for the church's Lenox headquarters before a Feb. 28 deadline. Trustee David Ferrari said the only bid he has gotten for the 65-acre campus with 28 buildings has been a $2.5 million offer from Woodland Properties, a Pittsfield-based real estate company. Andrew Kelly, an executive with Woodland Properties, has declined to discuss his plans for the property. The campus closed a few weeks after Mrs. Dovydenas prevailed in Bankruptcy Court. She was the high bidder at a November auction of the church headquarters, but the Bankruptcy Court rejected her $1.8 million bid as too low. The campus has been appraised at $6 million. Her claim is the largest of the hundreds of creditors, who claim they are owed a total of $7 million by the church.
