Mh v. Corp. of Catholic Abp. of Seattle

252 P.3d 914
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJune 6, 2011
Docket64566-8-I
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 252 P.3d 914 (Mh v. Corp. of Catholic Abp. of Seattle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mh v. Corp. of Catholic Abp. of Seattle, 252 P.3d 914 (Wash. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

252 P.3d 914 (2011)

M.H., Appellant,
v.
CORPORATION OF the CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SEATTLE, Respondent.

No. 64566-8-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

June 6, 2011.

*916 Michael Thomas Pfau, Pfau Cochran Vertetis Kosnoff PLLC, Bryan Daniel Doran, Short Cressman & Burgess, PLLC, Daniel Troy Logan Fasy, Kosnoff Law Firm, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

Michael Alexander Patterson, Karen Adell Kalzer, Mark Allen Anderson, Nicole M. Brodie, Patterson Buchanan Fobes Leitch & Kalzer, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

SCHINDLER, J.

¶ 1 M.H. filed a lawsuit against the Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop of Seattle (the Archdiocese) alleging childhood sexual abuse. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss the complaint under CR 12(c). We reverse and remand.

¶ 2 Father Edmund Boyle had a lengthy and extensive history of sexual misconduct.[1] In the early 1960s, the Archdiocese assigned Father Boyle to work as an associate pastor at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle. M.H.'s mother and her children lived near Saint James and were members of the church. In his role as a priest at Saint James, Father Boyle gained the trust of M.H.'s mother and her children. Father Boyle developed a very close relationship with M.H.'s mother and assumed a supervisory role over five-year-old M.H. and her brothers.

¶ 3 During this time period, Father Boyle arranged to have a picnic with M.H.'s mother and her children. Father Boyle invited two men and a woman to attend the picnic. Before the picnic, Father Boyle brought the two men and the woman to M.H.'s house and introduced them to M.H.'s mother and the *917 children. One of the men offered to drive M.H. to the picnic. The man asked M.H.'s mother if he could take M.H. with him to get supplies before going to the picnic. Father Boyle assured M.H.'s mother "that this would be a good idea." Based on Father Boyle's assurances, M.H.'s mother allowed the man to drive M.H. to the picnic.

¶ 4 Before going to the picnic, the man stopped at an apartment building located nearby. He took M.H. to an apartment in the building and gave her "paper and pencils to play with while he sexually abused her." Afterwards, M.H. said that she "felt sick and dizzy," and the man carried her to the car before driving to the picnic.

¶ 5 After the picnic was over, M.H. told her mother that the man had sexually abused her. M.H.'s mother told her to tell Father Boyle what happened. When M.H. told Father Boyle that the man sexually abused her, Father Boyle comforted M.H. but instructed her to never tell anyone else about what the man did to her. Father Boyle never reported the sexual abuse of M.H. to the authorities.

¶ 6 On May 7, 2009, M.H. filed a complaint for damages for childhood sexual abuse against the Archdiocese. M.H. alleged that the Archdiocese had a duty to control Father Boyle and prevent the sexual abuse from occurring. M.H. further alleged that the Archdiocese knew or should have known that Father Boyle had an extensive history of sexual misconduct with children, yet the Archdiocese placed Father Boyle in a position that allowed him to facilitate the sexual molestation of M.H.

¶ 7 The Archdiocese filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings under CR 12(c). The Archdiocese argued that as a matter of law, it did not have a duty under C.J.C. v. Corp. of the Catholic Bishop of Yakima, 138 Wash.2d 699, 985 P.2d 262 (1999) for "the acts of the unidentified man who assaulted M.H.,"[2] and that legal causation did not exist.

¶ 8 The trial court dismissed M.H.'s lawsuit against the Archdiocese with prejudice. The trial court ruled that even assuming that Father Boyle "associated with other child molesters" and that the Archdiocese "was aware or should have been aware of [Father] Boyle's associations with other child molesters," there was no connection between the Archdiocese and the unidentified man. The trial court's written order states, in pertinent part:

For a special relationship to exist and for the harm to M.H. to have been foreseeable, there would have to be some fact about the unidentified person to link him to the [Archdiocese] and thus create the special relationship under the factors articulated in CJC, 138 Wash.2d at 724 [985 P.2d 262]. Since no such fact can ever be discovered, this link cannot be established. [The Archdiocese] does not have a duty to M.H. for the acts of an unidentified third party who has no provable connection to [the Archdiocese], other than a known momentary association with [Father] Boyle.

Standard Of Review

¶ 9 We review the CR 12(c) dismissal of M.H.'s lawsuit against the Archdiocese de novo. Burton v. Lehman, 153 Wash.2d 416, 422, 103 P.3d 1230 (2005). A dismissal under CR 12(c) is appropriate only if "`it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts, consistent with the complaint, which would entitle the plaintiff to relief.'" Haberman v. Wash. Pub. Power Supply Sys., 109 Wash.2d 107, 120, 744 P.2d 1032 (1987) (quoting Bowman v. John Doe Two, 104 Wash.2d 181, 183, 704 P.2d 140 (1985)). In undertaking such an analysis, the "plaintiffs allegations are presumed to be true and a court may consider hypothetical facts not included in the record." Tenore v. AT & T Wireless Servs., 136 Wash.2d 322, 330, 962 P.2d 104 (1998). Accordingly, we must take the facts alleged in the complaint, as well as hypothetical facts, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Postema *918 v. Pollution Control Hearings Bd., 142 Wash.2d 68, 122-23, 11 P.3d 726 (2000).

¶ 10 A motion to dismiss under CR 12(c) should be granted "`sparingly and with care,' and `only in the unusual case in which plaintiff includes allegations that show on the face of the complaint that there is some insuperable bar to relief.'" Tenore, 136 Wash.2d at 330, 962 P.2d 104 (Quoting Hoffer v. State, 110 Wash.2d 415, 420, 755 P.2d 781 (1988)). "`[A]ny hypothetical situation conceivably raised by the complaint defeats a CR 12(b)(6) motion if it is legally sufficient to support plaintiffs claim.'" Bravo v. Dolsen Cos., 125 Wash.2d 745, 750, 888 P.2d 147 (1995) (quoting Halvorson v. Dahl, 89 Wash.2d 673, 674, 574 P.2d 1190 (1978)).

Duty

¶ 11 M.H. contends that the trial court erred in granting the motion to dismiss her lawsuit against the Archdiocese under CR 12(c). M.H. asserts the harm to M.H. was foreseeable and the Archdiocese had a duty to control Father Boyle and prevent him from facilitating the sexual abuse of M.H. M.H. concedes the Archdiocese "does not have a duty to M.H. for the acts of an unidentified third party."

¶ 12 The Archdiocese argues, as it did below, that because there was no connection between the unidentified abuser and the Archdiocese, M.H.

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252 P.3d 914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mh-v-corp-of-catholic-abp-of-seattle-washctapp-2011.