Doe v. Brouillette

• Decision Date: 31 March 2009
• Docket Number: No. 1-07-0633.,1-07-0633.
• Citation: Doe v. Brouillette, 906 N.E.2d 105, 389 Ill. App. 3d 595 (Ill. App. 2009)
• Parties: John DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert BROUILLETTE, Also Known as Robert Sullivan, The Congregation of Christian Brothers, Also Known as the Christian Brothers of Ireland, Also Known as the Christian Brothers, and St. Laurence High School, Defendants (The Archdiocese of Chicago, Defendant-Appellee.)
• Court: Appellate Court of Illinois

906 N.E.2d 105

John DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert BROUILLETTE, Also Known as Robert Sullivan, The Congregation of Christian Brothers, Also Known as the Christian Brothers of Ireland, Also Known as the Christian Brothers, and St. Laurence High School, Defendants (The Archdiocese of Chicago, Defendant-Appellee.)

No. 1-07-0633.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, First Division.

March 31, 2009.

Thomas A. Clancy, Jeanine L. Stevens, Joshua S. Stern, Clancy & Stevens, Chicago, for Appellant.

Lawrence R. Smith, Michael Resis, SmithAmundsen LLC, Chicago, for Appellee.

Justice HALL delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, John Doe, filed a multicount complaint against the defendant, the Archdiocese of Chicago,¹ alleging that he was sexually molested by a guidance counselor at a Catholic high school. The trial court granted summary judgment to the Catholic Bishop on the grounds that the guidance counselor was not an employee of the Catholic Bishop.

The plaintiff appeals, asserting that genuine issues of material fact exist precluding summary judgment. The plaintiff raises the following specific issues: (1) whether the circuit court erred in finding that the plaintiff failed to present any evidence of reliance to support an apparent agency claim; (2) whether a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether Brother Brouillette was an employee or agent of the Catholic Bishop; (3) whether the plaintiff may assert a cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty; (4) whether a "special relationship" existed between the plaintiff and the Catholic Bishop requiring the Catholic Bishop to protect the plaintiff from the criminal acts of a third party; and (5) whether the plaintiff stated causes of action for fraudulent concealment and civil conspiracy.

On April 16, 2003, the plaintiff filed his fifth amended complaint against the Catholic Bishop, Brother Robert Brouillette, the Congregation of the Christian Brothers (the Christian Brothers), and St. Laurence High School (St. Laurence). The plaintiff alleged that St. Laurence was owned by the Catholic Bishop. The plaintiff alleged that, during his freshman and sophomore years at St. Laurence, 1996 to 1998, he was sexually molested by Brother Brouillette, who had served as his guidance counselor and mentor. The plaintiff further alleged that it was not until 2002 that he realized that he had been injured by his sexual contact with Brother Brouillette.

In count II of his fifth amended complaint, the plaintiff alleged that the Catholic Bishop was negligent in hiring Brother Brouillette in that it knew or should have known of his history of pedophilia and therefore failed to exercise reasonable care in hiring Brother Brouillette to provide counseling and mentoring to children. In count V, the plaintiff alleged that the Catholic Bishop had been placed on notice of Brother Brouillette's history of pedophilia but failed to supervise him, allowing him to perform services as a teacher and guidance counselor. In count VIII, the plaintiff alleged that the Catholic Bishop violated the Sexual Exploitation Professional Health Services, and Professional Mental Health Services in Psychotherapy Act (740 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 2002)) (the Act) by allowing Brother Brouillette to provide counseling services to the plaintiff while sexually molesting him.

In count XII, the plaintiff alleged that, as an educational and religious association, the Catholic Bishop owed a fiduciary duty to the plaintiff. The plaintiff further alleged that the Catholic Bishop violated its duty to the plaintiff by its policy of tolerance of Brother Brouillette's sexual misconduct. Finally, in count XV, the plaintiff alleged that the Catholic Bishop engaged in a conspiracy to suppress Brother Brouillette's history of pedophilia and falsely represented that Brother Brouillette was an appropriate teacher, a fact on which the plaintiff and his family relied.

The Catholic Bishop filed an answer to the fifth amended complaint asserting that, while St. Laurence was a Catholic high school, the Catholic Bishop did not own, operate or control the school. The Catholic Bishop denied that Brother Brouillette was its agent or employee.

On April 30, 2004, the Catholic Bishop filed a motion for summary judgment asserting the statute of limitations set forth in section 13-202.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/13-202.2 (West 2002)). In its motion, the Catholic Bishop reserved the right to assert that it did not exercise any control over St. Laurence or the Christian Brothers or that Brother Brouillette was not its agent or employee or under its control. Following the filing of the Catholic Bishop's motion for summary judgment, Brother Brouillette and the Christian Brothers reached settlement agreements with the plaintiff and were dismissed by the circuit court.²

Subsequently, the Catholic Bishop filed a supplementary motion for summary judgment. In its motion, the Catholic Bishop asserted that it was entitled to summary judgment because no question of material fact existed as to whether Brother Brouillette was its employee or agent or under its control. The Catholic Bishop further maintained that tort duties may not be imposed based on the interpretation of religious doctrine. The Catholic Bishop also maintained that, under Illinois law, there is no cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty between a cleric and a church member and that no special relationship existed to allow the imposition of a duty to protect the plaintiff from a criminal act. Finally, the Catholic Bishop asserted that the plaintiff failed to properly allege his fraudulent concealment and civil conspiracy claims. The following evidence taken from deposition testimony and affidavits is pertinent to the issues raised in this appeal.

Sister Margaret Rose Farley, the Catholic Bishop's director of school personnel, testified that there were two types of high schools located within the Archdiocese of Chicago: those sponsored by religious communities and those sponsored by the archdiocese. A school sponsored by a religious organization is owned and operated by that organization with its own specific mission and purpose and financial liability. Schools sponsored by the archdiocese are part of the corporation of the archdiocese (the Catholic Bishop), and it is responsible for them. St. Laurence is sponsored by the Christian Brothers.

According to Sister Farley, the cardinal must give permission before a Catholic school can be established within the geographic limits of the archdiocese. The cardinal could also revoke that permission. The cardinal was the ultimate authority for all Catholic activity in the archdiocese, including what is conducted by religious orders and schools. The cardinal would not fire a teacher for teaching something against the Catholic faith, but he could call for an investigation. While the cardinal does not have the right to investigate charges of sexual misconduct between a member of a religious order and a student, he has the right to ensure that it is investigated.

Sister Farley did staff recruitment for the whole Catholic school system. The Catholic Bishop did not have a role in the operation, such as salary scale or budget of an nonarchdiocesan Catholic school such as St. Laurence.

Thomas J. Ondrla, currently president of St. Laurence, was principal of the school from 1993 to 2000. St Laurence was a school in the archdiocese but was not an archdiocesan school. The cardinal would have some oversight in religious matters; the school's right to call itself Catholic was at the cardinal's discretion. Mr. Ondrla did not know if the Catholic Bishop had the right to involve itself in an investigation or discipline of a teacher at St. Laurence. The "archbishop" was not expected to conduct daily supervision of the activities at the school. Mr. Ondrla agreed that the cardinal was responsible for the moral and spiritual welfare of the students attending schools in the geographic area of the archdiocese.

Mr. Ondrla testified further that there was a liaison person between the Office of Catholic Schools and St. Laurence who transferred information and attended the monthly council meetings held by the high schools. There was no requirement that St. Laurence personnel attend the monthly council meetings. None of the policies and procedures of the Catholic Bishop between 1994 and 1999 applied to St. Laurence.

Mr. Ondrla acknowledged that information was collected from St. Laurence by the Catholic Bishop by way of surveys filled out by personnel at St. Laurence. The information was used by the Catholic Bishop to make general statements regarding the test scores in the Catholic high schools in the archdiocese. The survey required St. Laurence to provide information about the duties performed by paid personnel, all monies received by the school, the salaries and related costs and other types of information to aid the Catholic Bishop's planning efforts for fund raising.

St. Laurence was required to pay a fee to the Catholic Bishop for each student to defray the costs of the Office of Catholic Schools for services and workshops in which the schools participated. St. Laurence could still call itself a Catholic school even if it did not pay the annual assessment for each student.

Mr. Ondrla denied that St. Laurence took out a loan with the Catholic Bishop. The Catholic Bishop had entered into an agreement to purchase natural gas for the archdiocese; it was made available to grammar schools and high schools. The Catholic Bishop was not providing natural gas to the schools without cost. Rather, it saved the schools money if they purchased the natural gas through the Catholic Bishop. When the gas prices escalated, the Catholic Bishop offered to convert the normal reconciliations to no-interest loans. Mr. Ondrla acknowledged that a letter from Cardinal George listed St. Laurence as a Catholic secondary...