$17 million verdict has many concerned

Last week's jury verdict that said the Archdiocese of Milwaukee should pay $17 million to the 84-year-old victim of a car wreck caused by a parish group volunteer has some observers worried about the decision's impact on religious institutions fearful of liability issues.

That one parishioner's accident could have such an economic consequence for an entire archdiocese alarmed Philip K. Howard, the New York-based chairman of Common Good, a group critical of what he has called "America's lawsuit culture" and its effects on society.

"The notion of $15 million in pain and suffering to a person who's nearing the end of life needs to be balanced against who's paying for that," Howard said. "In effect, they're making this elderly gentleman's family rich at the expense of everyone in the parish. Is that a fair result? Doesn't sound like it to me."

A reliance on community outreach is the hallmark of virtually every religious congregation, but both Howard and Marquette University law professor John Kircher said the size and nature of the verdict against the archdiocese might make other churches rethink the situation.

"Obviously, if this verdict stands up, there are going to be a lot of religious organizations, not only the Roman Catholic Church but others that rely on volunteers, that are going to be taking a second look at their exposure," Kircher said.

The 2002 crash became the archdiocese's fiscal burden after a two-year court fight. Margaret Morse, a longtime member of the Legion of Mary at Christ King Parish in Wauwatosa, was driving when she caused the accident that left Hjalmer Heikkinen of West Allis a quadriplegic. Morse's insurance had a $50,000 limit, so the church and the archdiocese were pulled into the lawsuit.

The case turned on how closely the Legion of Mary and the parish were intertwined, since Morse had been delivering a statue for the Legion of Mary when the wreck happened.

Jury forewoman Julia L. Kliest of Cudahy explained this week that all the evidence spelled out that the Legion of Mary did parish work, with the stated approval of the priest.

"We felt that it was impossible to distinguish what was being done on behalf of the parish from what was done on behalf of the Legion of Mary. We felt that was too intertwined," she said.

Kliest said the dollar award was based on the cost of care and Heikkinen's projected life expectancy of four to seven years. She said the pain and suffering questions were "hard to quantify," but that based on all his surgeries and the life-changing nature of quadriplegia, "we felt we reached a fair and reasonable number for that."

The $17 million verdict included $10 million for Heikkinen's past pain and suffering and $5 million for future pain.

The amount isn't a done deal yet. Before any appeal, Circuit Judge Michael Guolee will hear post-verdict motions - such as to reduce or set aside the jury award - and then enter his final judgment. Several personal injury attorneys said that judges' decisions on award amounts are only rarely altered by the Court of Appeals. The case could also be settled at any point.

'Fabric of society' Christ King Parish attorney Frank L. Steeves said the church is still evaluating court options, as well as what to do about volunteer groups that aid the church, if they're all going to be seen as legal liabilities.

"You don't want to be liable for their accidents, but you don't want to inhibit doing good works, either," Steeves said. "It's part of the fabric of our society, the role churches play."

Heikkinen's attorney said the case revealed a situation he doesn't think describes the relationship between most churches and volunteer groups.

"The purpose of the organization, and no one really disputed this, was that it was to assist the clergy in the work of the clergy," said Don Prachthauser, Heikkinen's attorney.

According to its official Web site, the Legion of Mary is a worldwide organization of Catholic laypeople whose members "become instruments of the Holy Spirit through a balanced program of prayer and service." Taking statues of Mary to people and praying with them are among the group's regular services.

Christ King's chapter, Prachthauser noted, was never asked to show the parish the proof of insurance that it requires of all outside groups seeking to use facilities. And the parish's insurance papers specifically say any volunteer doing service on behalf of the church is covered by its policy.

"In so many of these other situations that people are talking about, I think the jury's determination would be different," Prachthauser said. "It would be very easy to show that the Boy Scouts are not the church or that so many of these other organizations that are different are not the church."

The line connecting volunteer work with liability is rarely clear. New York City recently opted not to take chances and required organizers of the "Gates" art display in Central Park to pay minimum wage to all 600 people who volunteered to set up the project, to clarify the legal liability of the artists in case something went wrong.

"There's a continuous battle in this area," said Peter Carstensen, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "It really comes back to whether she was the equivalent of an employee or agent of the church."

Several area religious leaders declined to comment for this article, and others noted that the centralized Catholic hierarchy makes it a target of liability.

"In a lawsuit like this one, our pockets wouldn't be as deep as being able to look at the archdiocese," said the Rev. Arlo R. Reichter, executive minister of American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin.

Will lawsuits make churches take cover by making all organizations a corporation, by turning all property over to property management companies and then renting it back, and by having all workers be independent contractors under personal services contracts?

Churches, then, would have no liability beyond corporate, own no property and have no workers.

They would simply be a group of people that could disband and reorganize under a different name.

re: Will lawsuits make churches take cover by making all organizations a corporation, by turning all property over to property management companies and then renting it back, and by having all workers be independent contractors under personal services contracts? )))

There's an idea.

This is a huge problem for small towns, big towns, etc.

Our lawyer overlords...

I'd like to know more about the actual accident. Was this woman driving extremely fast, was she impared in some way, was the injured man in another vehicle, a pedestrian, wearing a seatbelt? He must have really gotten wacked to be so severly injured, it's hard for me to imagine some average woman, transporting a statue in her own (I presume) auto, driving so maniacally as to cause such damage.

So, for me, this article raised more questions than answers.

Dear xzins,

I'm not sure that it's as much of a dilemma as the article makes out.

The judgment here is way out of whack.

I'm not sure the principle is.

Our Catholic parish is liable for its own torts, and assumes responsibility for church groups directly tied to it. That's how it goes. If the parish sponsored an activity, and a volunteer caused injury to someone in the course of the activity, the parish would be liable for any legitimate legal tort. That's how it is.

Here, the only issue that was in question was whether the Legion of Mary was an independent organization, separate of the parish, or came under the umbrella of the local parish. That's a tougher question.

Do you propose that religious organizations be immune to civil liability?

sitetest

There is a place for some kind of liability, but with awards being totally out of whack, then there's definitely a place for churches to protect themselves beyond insurance.

Incorporating, contracting, and renting are all ways to do that which make a lot of sense.

**"In a lawsuit like this one, our pockets wouldn't be as deep as being able to look at the archdiocese," said the Rev. Arlo R. Reichter, executive minister of American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin.**

I don't think the pockets of many archdiocese/diocese are that deep either.

Dear xzins,

Then the issue isn't whether the parish should be held liable? That's an acceptable legal question?

The issue is merely the wackiness of the award?

Then, we'll have to see what the judge does.

To me, though, the problem is that civil suits have become like lotteries, not that church groups can incur liability on the part of the parishes with which they're affiliated.

sitetest

I don't want to say that there shouldn't be discussion over what should be considered a church liability.

For some church member to hit someone while driving themselves home from church in their own car, I'd say that definitely isn't a church liability issue. (But I can see a line of argument that a slick lawyer could take to make it seem so.)

For the church bus to hit someone while picking up members for a church event, then I can see that being a church liability issue.

Then there's the stuff in the middle. If a church member is running an errand for the pastor as a favor and hits someone at that time, then I'd consider it more personal than church.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.