The board of directors of the PHC filed suit against GESPHC, John Walter, and Frederick Heider on January 25, 1888. They accused the organization and two men of seeking to seize the cemetery's revenues, conflicts of interest, illegally transferring title to the cemetery, and illegally subdividing the cemetery. The GESPHC countersued, arguing that the PHC had never been duly organized under the charter of 1860. Even if it had, the GESPHC said, the PHC's actions were tainted and irregular due to the voting rights given to individuals who were not members of the German Evangelical Society.