Westminster Presbyterian Church of Muncie v. Yonghong Cheng

992 N.E.2d 859, 2013 WL 4010297, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 372
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 7, 2013
DocketNo. 18A02-1210-CT-791
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 992 N.E.2d 859 (Westminster Presbyterian Church of Muncie v. Yonghong Cheng) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Westminster Presbyterian Church of Muncie v. Yonghong Cheng, 992 N.E.2d 859, 2013 WL 4010297, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 372 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

VAIDIK, Judge.

Case Summary

After the death of their four-month-old son while under the care of a babysitter recommended by a pastor at their church, Yonghong Cheng and Hongjun Niu (“June”) (collectively, “the Chengs”) brought suit against Westminster Presbyterian Church (“Westminster”) for wrongful death, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Westminster moved for summary judgment on all counts; the trial court denied the motion in regards to the wrongful death and invasion of privacy claims, but it granted the motion in regard to the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. Westminster appeals, and the Chengs cross-appeal.

Under a Webb v. Jarvis analysis, we find that there was no duty of care as a matter of law in this case, when a pastor recommended a babysitter to a parishioner and the child died while in the babysitter’s care. We also find that when the church issued a press release about the death that included the family and child’s names, there was no invasion of privacy because the church did not intrude upon the family’s physical seclusion or profit off of the family’s name, and no intentional infliction of emotional distress because the conduct did not rise to the level of outrageous. We therefore affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions for the trial court to enter summary judgment in favor of Westminster on all counts.

Facts and Procedural History

Westminster, located in Muncie, Indiana, has approximately 425 members. Dr. Gary Cox is the Pastor, and Kristofer Holroyd is the Associate Pastor. There is also a Chinese Christian fellowship at Westminster that uses the facility, but it has its own pastor, worship service, and fellowship time.

The Chengs began attending Westminster in 2005. They attended Westminster’s regular Sunday services and June sang in the choir; they were not members of the Chinese Christian fellowship. Their son, Matthew, was born in September 2009, and due to their fears Matthew would contract the flu, Matthew and Yon-ghong would usually stay home from services on Sundays.

Around January 1, 2010, June got a job with Love’s Tax Service and was expected to start on January 4, resulting in a search for a babysitter for Matthew. June contacted Joy Wegener, a woman she knew through Bible study at Westminster, and asked if she would babysit. Wegener initially agreed, but she later changed her mind and called June to decline. Wegener [863]*863mentioned Tina Byrd as a possible alternative, telling June that Byrd was also from Westminster. Wegener gave Byrd’s phone number to June, and June called and left a message for her that day. However, June was still hoping that Wegener would change her mind, so she went over to Wegener’s house to talk to her. Weg-ener still declined; she then called another woman from Westminster who also declined. At this point, according to June, Wegener called Holroyd and told him that “June is here trying to find child care for Matthew.” Appellee’s App. p. 691. However, according to Holroyd, Wegener told him that her “Chinese friend” was looking for someone to babysit her baby and asked him if he knew anyone to recommend. Appellant’s App. p. 110. Holroyd said “Tina is taking babies.” Id. at 122. Weg-ener then asked Holroyd if any college students from Westminster could babysit, and Holroyd said he would send out an email to check. Holroyd testified he did not know that June was with Wegener at the time of the call, and he did not mention that a baby had died while in Byrd’s care just two months before. Id. at 110. Hol-royd also did not think that he was making a recommendation to anyone to use Byrd as a babysitter, nor did he consider the phone call to be one seeking pastoral advice. Id. at 112-13.

Before June left Wegener’s house, Byrd called back and indicated that she could babysit Matthew. Byrd asked June how old Matthew was and whether he was on formula, and she told June that if she decided to hire her, Byrd would email her a list of things to bring. Byrd also told June that she could start the next day, January 4. June did not hire Byrd at this time; she discussed the matter with Yon-ghong and called Byrd later to let her know that they were going to hire her. June said that they would be able to pay Byrd $80 per week, and Byrd agreed to the amount. June did not do any other research on Byrd, and Byrd gave June no more information.

About two months before, however, in mid-October 2009, Byrd started babysitting the baby of another family from Westminster. On November 3, 2009, Byrd put him down for a nap and the baby died. When the baby was discovered, he was unresponsive in his crib, so Byrd and her daughter called 911 and Byrd performed CPR. The baby’s death was ruled by the coroner to be “a case of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID),” with the official manner of death being “undetermined.” Id. at 260. Byrd was questioned by the police and the Indiana Department of Child Services, but she was never charged. The baby’s death was well known within the Westminster community.

After the baby’s death, Byrd did not think she would babysit again. However, Byrd’s father had helped her financially after she got divorced, and he passed away shortly after the baby’s death. Byrd’s ex-husband was also behind on child-support payments, so Byrd returned to babysitting in order to start earning money again.

Byrd began babysitting Matthew on January 4, 2010. The first day, June took Matthew to Byrd’s house, staying for thirty to forty minutes to feed him before going to work. Around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m., Byrd called June, telling her she “couldn’t do it,” so June called Yonghong to pick Matthew up from Byrd’s house. Id. at 132. Byrd said that Matthew “kept on crying” and that she could not handle it and did not want to babysit anymore. Id. at 133. When Yonghong picked Matthew up, Byrd suggested that they try bottle feeding him, and that when Matthew was ready, they could try having her babysit him again. The Chengs worked on weaning Matthew off of breast feeding, and the [864]*864next week they dropped him back off at Byrd’s house without issue.

On January 19, 2010, June dropped Matthew off at Byrd’s house. At 2:15 that afternoon, when Matthew was sleeping, Byrd left the house to pick up her daughter from school and make another stop, leaving Matthew alone in the house. She had checked on Matthew about ten minutes before she left, and he seemed to be asleep on his side. Id. at 142. Byrd’s nineteen-year-old daughter, Kassey, worked at a preschool about five minutes from the house, and she was expected home soon after the school let out around 2:00 p.m. When Byrd returned home with her other daughter, Kataryna, Kassey was already there. Kataryna went into the room where Matthew had been sleeping and found him dead in the crib. Byrd started CPR and 911 was called. June was not notified about Matthew’s death until she came to Byrd’s house to pick him up and was met by Byrd’s son who told her, “your baby died.” Appellee’s App. p. 696. Byrd was questioned by the police and initially lied about her whereabouts that afternoon, as well as how she positioned Matthew for his nap. As a result, Byrd pled guilty to obstruction of justice.

Dr. Cox first learned of Matthew’s death around 3:00 p.m. that day, and he and his wife first went to the police station where Byrd was. They then went to the hospital where the Chengs were, along with Hol-royd and another Westminster member. Dr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 N.E.2d 859, 2013 WL 4010297, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/westminster-presbyterian-church-of-muncie-v-yonghong-cheng-indctapp-2013.