‘Clergy Malpractice’ Suit to Go to Trial

The nation’s first “clergy malpractice” lawsuit, dismissed by trial judges twice and half-tried once, was reinstated for a second trial Wednesday on a 2-1 vote by a state Court of Appeal.

The panel said counselors have a special responsibility to prevent suicide “whether those counselors are affiliated with a religious institution or not.”

The oft-argued $1-million suit was filed seven years ago by Walter and Maria Nally of Tujunga against Grace Community Church of Sun Valley over the 1979 shotgun suicide of their 24-year-old son, Kenneth.

The Nallys allege that four ministers at the fundamentalist church, which draws about 10,000 worshipers each Sunday, incompetently counseled their son, burdened him with guilt by attributing his emotional problems to sin and failed to insist that he get psychiatric help when they realized that he was suicidal.

Denying that the issue raised by the Nallys was “clergy malpractice,” Justice Earl Johnson stated in the 70-page opinion for the 2nd District Court of Appeal:

“In our view this case has little or nothing to say about the liability of clergymen for the negligent performance of their ordinary ministerial duties or even their counseling duties except when they enter into a counseling relationship with suicidal individuals. . . . “

“We find established principles of California law impose a duty of due care on those who undertake a counseling relationship with suicidal individuals . . . ,” Johnson stated with the concurrence of Justice Leon Thompson.