N.K. v. Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

307 P.3d 730, 175 Wash. App. 517
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 22, 2013
DocketNo. 67645-8-I
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 307 P.3d 730 (N.K. v. Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) 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
N.K. v. Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 307 P.3d 730, 175 Wash. App. 517 (Wash. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Becker, J.

¶1 Appellant NK1 was molested in 1977 by a volunteer scout leader with a church-sponsored Boy Scout troop in Shelton, Washington, when NK was 12 years old. Thirty-two years later, NK brought negligence claims against the church, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and the local boy scouting council for failing to protect him. These claims were dismissed on summary judgment on the ground that the defendants owed no duty to protect NK from a danger of which they were unaware.

¶2 We reverse as to the church and remand for trial. The church had a protective relationship with NK. From this relationship, a duty arose to take reasonable precautions to protect children in the church’s care from foreseeable hazards, a category that may include the risk of child sex abuse by scout leaders. This duty does not depend on the church having prior knowledge that its volunteer scout leader was a molester. In any case, there is evidence that church officials did become aware of the volunteer’s dangerous propensities several months before he left town. We also reverse orders that limited NK’s discovery from the church in time and scope.

¶3 As to the scouting defendants, we affirm. There is no evidence that they had a special relationship either with NK or with the adult volunteer who molested him.

FACTS

¶4 The facts are set forth in the light most favorable to NK, the nonmoving party on summary judgment. This court reviews summary judgment orders de novo, engaging in the [523]*523same inquiry as the trial court. Aba Sheikh v. Choe, 156 Wn.2d 441, 447, 128 P.3d 574 (2006).

¶5 In 1977, NK was a 12-year-old boy living in Shelton. NK and his family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The church is organized into geographic areas called “stakes.” Subunits of stakes are called “wards.” NK’s family belonged to the Shelton ward, which was part of the Olympia stake. The Shelton ward of the church encouraged boys in the congregation to participate in Boy Scouts. The church sponsored Boy Scout Troop 155.

¶6 A ward’s leadership is referred to as the “bishopric,” which consists of a bishop and a first and second counselor. In 1977, the Shelton ward’s second counselor was the chairman of the ward’s Boy Scout Committee. A troop has to have a scout committee and officers in order to be chartered by the national Boy Scout organization.

¶7 Scoutmasters for Troop 155 are “called” to the position by the bishopric, and then presented to the congregation, where they can be either affirmed or opposed. In 1977, Ben Danford was called and affirmed by the congregation as the official scoutmaster. He was registered on the official troop roster. There was no official assistant scoutmaster.

¶8 In the early spring of 1977, a stranger named Dusty Rhodes came to Shelton from Juneau, Alaska. Danford, who met him at the time, thought the stranger seemed untrustworthy. “Rhodes” left town, only to reappear a few months later under the new name of Dusty Hall. Danford testified that Hall was “personable,” but he gave only a “vague” explanation of “what he did and who he was and where he came from.” Hall worked as a truck driver. He had no children of his own. He had only recently converted to the LDS church. The friends he made in Shelton included NK’s parents. Soon, he became engaged to Geraldine Worthy, the best friend of NK’s mother. Worthy was a single mother of three young children.

[524]*524¶9 Hall offered to volunteer with the scouting troop. The bishopric met and decided to accept him as a volunteer. Hall quickly assumed substantial responsibilities for the troop’s activities, though he was never officially registered with BSA. NK recalls Hall being introduced to him as his new scoutmaster. The other boys and families of the troop and Worthy, Hall’s fiancée, also knew him as a scoutmaster. Hall held scout meetings every week. Some meetings were held in the gym, and some were in the church’s scouting cabin. There were two keys to the scouting cabin; the bishop had one, and Hall had the other. Hall also took the scouts on camping trips and helped them get their merit badges.

¶10 According to NK, Hall began sexually molesting him in the early summer of 1977, about a week after they met. The first two incidents occurred at NK’s home. NK testified that the only reason he ever let Hall into his house when his parents were not there “was because he was one of our Scout leaders.” The third incident occurred during a troop sleepover at Hall’s apartment. Other incidents occurred during scouting campouts, in the church scout cabin after scout meetings, in Hall’s car in the church parking lot, or at Hall’s workplace. In all, Hall molested NK 20 to 30 times, approximately on a weekly basis. Hall also molested at least two of NK’s fellow scouts during scouting events and sleepovers. One scout who was not molested stopped participating in Troop 155 because Hall made his family feel uncomfortable.

¶11 On a Sunday at the end of the summer, Worthy learned from her six-year-old son that Hall had molested him. Worthy reported the abuse to the bishop the same day. The bishop told her not to call the police and that he would “take care of it.” The bishop tried to contact Hall. Hall gathered his things from Worthy’s home and left town the same night. The bishop called church members in Juneau and made other efforts to contact Hall, but Hall could not be located and he never returned.

f 12 The bishop held a meeting with the parents of the scouts and asked them to discuss Hall with their sons. [525]*525Questioned by his parents and then by the bishop, NK denied that Hall had molested him. He did not tell friends or siblings about it either.

¶13 NK filed this complaint in November 2009 against BSA, a congressionally chartered national organization, and Pacific Harbors Council of BSA, one of numerous local councils chartered across the country by BSA. The complaint also named two church defendants: Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The two church defendants, who filed a joint answer and are jointly represented, are corporations established to carry out the temporal affairs of the LDS church, a worldwide religious organization with over 13 million members.

¶14 NK alleged that each defendant owed him a duty to protect him from the criminal acts of Hall. He claimed that they failed in their duty in various ways: by failing to check into Hall’s background, by allowing him to supervise the children in isolated settings without another adult present, and by failing to train scoutmasters or warn scouts and their families about the danger of sexual abuse in scouting.

¶15 In August 2011, the court granted dismissal to all defendants on summary judgment for absence of duty. NK assigns error to the orders of dismissal and also to certain orders imposing limits on discovery from the church.

DUTY

¶16 The existence of a legal duty is a question of law considered on appeal de novo. Aba Sheikh, 156 Wn.2d at 448.

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Bluebook (online)
307 P.3d 730, 175 Wash. App. 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nk-v-corporation-of-the-presiding-bishop-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-washctapp-2013.