Funkhouser v. Wilson

• Court: Washington Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: KENNEDY
• Citation: Funkhouser v. Wilson, 950 P.2d 501, 89 Wn.App. 644 (Wash. App. 1998)
• Decision Date: 26 January 1998
• Docket Number: No. 37971-2-I
• Parties: Juanita FUNKHOUSER, a married woman; Sheri Lewis, a married woman; and Janelle Larson, a married woman, Appellants, v. David WILSON, as personal representative for the Estate of Orin Wilson; Gerry Wilson, a single woman, Defendants. David Schulz; Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp, Washington, formerly known as Calvary Bible and/or First Baptist Church; the Columbia Baptist Conference, a Washington corporation, Respondents.

Page 644

89 Wn.App. 644

950 P.2d 501

Juanita FUNKHOUSER, a married woman; Sheri Lewis, a married woman; and Janelle Larson, a married woman, Appellants, v. David WILSON, as personal representative for the Estate of Orin Wilson; Gerry Wilson, a single woman, Defendants David Schulz; Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp, Washington formerly known as Calvary Bible and/or First Baptist Church; the Columbia Baptist Conference, a Washington corporation, Respondents.

No. 37971-2-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington Division 1.

Jan. 26, 1998.

Stephen W. Hansen, Paul S. McConnell, Cornell Hansen Bugni & McConnell, P.S., Seattle, for Appellants.

Lee Kraft, Joel T. Salmi, Bellevue, Keith A. Kemper, Seattle, Respondents.

KENNEDY, Acting Chief Judge.

The three appellants, Juanita Funkhouser, Sheri Lewis and Janelle Larson, are sisters who were sexually abused by Orin Wilson when they were children. Wilson, who is now deceased, was a prominent member of Cavalry Baptist Church of Twisp, Washington who held various leadership positions within the church during the years that the sexual abuse took place, including but not limited to the positions of Church Youth Director, Sunday School Teacher, Director of Daily Vacation Bible School and Member of the Board of Deacons. The appellants' father, Lanny Barringer, was pastor of the church in Twisp when the abuse took place. Before Sheri and Janelle were molested, David Schulz, another prominent church member who held various leadership positions in the church at Twisp, learned that Wilson may have molested a child. He kept this information to himself, failing to warn Pastor Barringer that his daughters might be in danger of being molested by Wilson. Before Juanita was molested, additional information came to light by which local and regional church leaders were made aware that Wilson had molested his granddaughter. They learned this information while Pastor Barringer was out of state. Upon his return, Pastor Barringer was not told about Wilson's disposition to molest children. As had been the case with the older girls, Wilson was given free access to Juanita and he molested her. In their complaint, the appellants alleged that Orin Wilson had molested them when they were children and that the other defendants negligently failed to protect them from the sexual abuse despite knowing that Wilson had a disposition to sexually molest children. The trial court dismissed Sheri and Janelle's claims against Schulz and Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp on summary judgment, concluding that neither Schulz nor the church owed a duty to protect them from sexual abuse by Wilson. In a separate ruling, the trial court dismissed Juanita's claims against Schulz, Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp and Columbia Baptist Conference, concluding that the statute of limitations had run on her claims against them. We reverse both summary judgments and remand for a trial on the merits or such other disposition as shall be consistent with this opinion. ¹

FACTS

Consistent with the standard of review of summary judgments, we recount the facts in the light most favorable to the appellants. Sheri Lewis, Janelle Larson and Juanita Funkhouser are sisters whose father, Lanny Barringer, was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp during some of their childhood years. Between 1969 and 1973, the two older daughters, Sheri and Janelle, were sexually abused by Orin Wilson, a prominent church member who held multiple leadership positions in the church, including but not limited to membership on the Board of Deacons, Youth Director, Director of Daily Vacation Bible School, and Sunday School Teacher. In 1968, before the Barringer family moved to Twisp, David Schulz, another prominent church member who also held multiple leadership positions in the church during the relevant years, including Chairman of the Board of Deacons, Youth Director, Youth Sponsor, and various positions in the Sunday School Department, had been doing volunteer carpentry work at the church when the church secretary asked him to take a phone call. The caller, a woman, had asked to speak with someone in a position of authority at the church. Schulz did not know the caller, but she identified herself to Schulz by name. Although the exact content of the telephone conversation is disputed, a rational trier of fact could conclude, from Schulz's subsequent varying descriptions of the content of the call and of his reaction to it, that the woman told Schulz that Wilson had molested a child. The trier of fact could also infer that the purpose of her call was to warn someone in a position of authority at the church in Twisp that Wilson might pose a danger to children in the congregation. Schulz advised the woman to file charges with the legal authorities if the charges were as serious as she thought, and requested that she keep the church informed. He did not inform anyone of the woman's accusation at that time, nor for many years thereafter. However, he was concerned enough about what the woman had told him that he felt it was his duty as Youth Director to keep an eye on Wilson.

In 1974, Pastor Barringer moved with his family to Iowa to accept a pastor position there; he returned to the pastor position in Twisp in 1978. By that time, Sheri and Janelle had grown up and moved out of the family home; Juanita was about 11 years of age. During Pastor Barringer's absence, the replacement pastor, Dale Akker, received information from Orin Wilson's daughter-in-law that Wilson had sexually abused his granddaughter in 1974, and from the Okanogan County Sheriff that a warrant had been issued for Wilson's arrest on child molestation charges. Wilson's daughter-in-law later testified that she believed that she also told Schulz of Wilson's abuse of her daughter. Pastor Akker immediately called Jack Bergeson, Executive Minister of the Columbia Baptist Conference (CBC), the regional office for certain Baptist churches including the Twisp Church, and asked Bergeson what he thought he should do. Bergeson advised Akker to "let it be and see what happens in the future," gave Akker the name of a counselor for Wilson, and asked that Akker keep him informed. When Akker asked Bergeson whether Wilson should be removed from membership on the Board of Deacons, Bergeson stated to Akker, "Why hang your dirty wash out." Clerk's Papers at 768. Akker contacted Wilson and Wilson's wife regarding the charges against him and assisted Wilson in obtaining counseling. Neither Akker nor anyone at CBC ever informed any other person at the church in Twisp of Wilson's sexual abuse of his granddaughter. Pastor Akker left the Church several months before the Barringer family returned. From the time of the Barringer family's return to the church in Twisp in 1973 until 1980, Wilson repeatedly sexually abused Juanita.

The record reflects that Sheri and Janelle were abused by Wilson in the Wilson home while he served as their babysitter so that their parents could travel in accord with Pastor Berringer's responsibilities as church pastor. The record reflects that Schulz knew about the babysitting arrangement. The record reflects that Juanita was abused by Wilson both in Wilson's home and, on one occasion, on church property.

Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in 1994. Because all of the acts of sexual abuse against Sheri and Janelle were alleged to have taken place before CBC learned of Wilson's history, Sheri and Janelle sued only Schulz and the Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp, whereas Juanita sued Schulz, the church and CBC. Sheri and Janelle alleged that prior to Wilson's sexual abuse of them, Schulz received information that Wilson was capable of, had a propensity toward, and a prior history of child sexual abuse but negligently failed to investigate in order to substantiate the accusation against him, or to prevent him from being installed in church leadership positions that gave Wilson unlimited access to and significant authority over children of the church; and that Schulz negligently and/or intentionally failed to warn their father and others in order that they might protect Sheri and Janelle from Wilson. Sheri and Janelle alleged that the church in Twisp negligently failed to protect them from abuse despite Schulz's knowledge of Wilson's history of abusing a child. Juanita alleged that Schulz, the church in Twisp and the CBC negligently failed to protect her from Wilson's sexual abuse despite knowing of his disposition to sexually abuse children.

Sheri and Janelle, who suppressed their memories of Wilson's abuse for many years, alleged that they discovered their injuries and some or all of the defendants' wrongful acts less than 3 years before they filed their lawsuit. Juanita, who suppressed her memory of the most serious of the incidents of abuse until she received counseling after her marriage, first told her father about Wilson's abuse in 1991, after she had received extensive counseling. Pastor Barringer then told Schulz about the abuse and asked Schulz whether it was possible that Wilson had also molested Schulz's daughters. It was then that Schulz revealed, for the first time, the fact that he had received the telephone call from the woman in 1968. Pastor Barringer passed this information to his daughters. Shortly thereafter, Pastor Barringer and his daughters also learned, for the first time, that Pastor Akker and the CBC had become aware of Wilson's propensities before Juanita was molested by Wilson. The law suit was filed in 1994.

Schulz and Calvary Baptist Church of Twisp moved for summary judgment dismissing Sheri and Janelle's claims against them, contending that there were no grounds on which to impose a legal duty on them to protect Sheri and Janelle from abuse by Wilson; Schulz, the church in Twisp and CBC did not ask for dismissal of Juanita's claims on that ground, instead asking that her claims be dismissed only because the statute of limitations had run. In dismissing...