Parents Pursue Legal Fight Over Son’s Suicide

A Tujunga couple who contended in a lawsuit that a Sun Valley church was guilty of “clergy malpractice” in the 1979 suicide of their son said Friday they will continue their 9 1/2-year legal battle, despite a rejection of their claim by the state Supreme Court.

Walter and Maria Nally and Edward Baker, their attorney, announced at a news conference that they will decide in the next 3 weeks whether to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their suit against Grace Community Church or to ask a federal court to overrule the state Supreme Court.

The family said that church counselors, who were providing Kenneth Nally, 24, with spiritual counseling, should be held liable for his suicide. The state Supreme Court ruled Nov. 27 that church pastors could not be held responsible in Nally’s death.

But Barker said the court did not take a stand on constitutional issues raised in the lawsuit.

Negligence Charged

The Nallys had charged that four pastoral counselors at Grace Community, the largest Protestant church in Los Angeles County, were negligent in failing to refer their depressed son to licensed psychotherapists. They said the counselors told Kenneth he would “be accepted into heaven” if he committed suicide.

The court held in a 5-2 vote that church counselors, or others who are not psychotherapists, have no legal duty to refer a person to psychiatrists or to other mental-health professionals, even if they believe the person is suicidal.

Barker said the decision denied the Nallys equal protection and due process. He said the ruling “promotes religion, and gives the church certain freedoms denied everyone else. . . . If it were other than a religious organization, the Nallys would be able to sue.”

The court did not define whether the church should be granted immunity under the First Amendment, which prohibits regulation of the free exercise of religion, the attorney said.

Walter Nally said he felt no reluctance about pursuing the suit after the frustrating legal fight. “He was our son, and we owe it to him,” he said.

The church’s senior pastor, John MacArthur, said he was not surprised by the Nallys’ decision.

“The attorney and the Nallys are so deep into this now that they just cannot take the verdict at face value,” MacArthur said.