Nallys Request New Trial of Suit Against Church

Declaring that they have “a lot of tenacity,” Walter and Maria Nally of Tujunga filed a motion in Glendale Superior Court Tuesday requesting a new trial in their “clergy malpractice” lawsuit against Grace Community Church of the Valley.

The Nallys have alleged that four pastors at the Sun Valley church provided incompetent counseling to their 24-year-old son, Kenneth, contributing to his 1979 suicide.

The suit, originally filed in 1980, was dismissed in mid-trial May 16 by Judge Joseph R. Kalin, who ruled that any judicial effort to regulate pastoral counseling would violate the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.

The Nallys’ attorney, Edward Barker, said he believes the judge erred in the ruling. The First Amendment, Barker asserted, was not intended to give a “free hand” to “the negligent or the irresponsible clergyman.”

‘A Lot of Soul-Searching’

The Nally family did “a lot of soul-searching” during the past two weeks before deciding to pursue the case, Baker said at a press conference in his downtown Los Angeles office.

“We’re not going to quit,” he added.

Barker said he believes that the Nallys can win the case if it is submitted to a jury. A majority of the jurors indicated after the dismissal that they were leaning toward the family, but the judge threw out the case before the jury was given an opportunity to decide it, he said.

Kalin is expected to hear the arguments for a new trial within a month. If he rejects the motion, the family plans to take the case to the state Court of Appeal, Barker said.