Marks v. Estate of Hartgerink

• Decision Date: 29 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-1624,93-1624
• Citation: 528 N.W.2d 539
• Parties: John B. MARKS, Appellant, v. The ESTATE OF Kenneth HARTGERINK, John J. Schneiderman, Marvin H. Westendorf, and Leslie Van Raden, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 539

528 N.W.2d 539

John B. MARKS, Appellant, v. The ESTATE OF Kenneth HARTGERINK, John J. Schneiderman, Marvin H. Westendorf, and Leslie Van Raden, Appellees.

No. 93-1624.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 29, 1995.

Rehearing Denied April 26, 1995.

Joseph M. Isenberg, Ames, for appellant.

Stephen J. Powell and Samuel C. Anderson of Swisher & Cohrt, Waterloo, for appellees.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, LAVORATO, ANDREASEN, and TERNUS, JJ.

ANDREASEN, Justice.

A church member, whose church membership had been taken away, sued church officials for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted the church officials' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the case. On appeal, we affirm.

I. Background.

In 1990 John B. Marks' membership in the Trinity Reformed Church of Allison, Iowa (Trinity) was suspended and he was later excommunicated in a disciplinary action taken by Trinity's governing body. Trinity is a part of the national organization, the Reformed Church of America. The national organization is a hierarchical body with an established structure and procedures. The local governing body is the consistory, which is made up of the installed ministers of the local church, the elders, and the deacons. The members of the board of elders are the elected spiritual leaders of the church and have the power to discipline members of the congregation. That power includes the power of excommunication. Defendant Kenneth Hartgerink, now deceased, was the pastor at Trinity when Marks was excommunicated. Defendants John J. Schneiderman, Marvin H. Westendorf, and Leslie Van Raden were elders.

Marks has been a member of the church for most of his life. His parents were founding members of Trinity, and his father donated the land where the church is now located. Marks' concern about the direction the church was taking began in 1986 when his wife lost her job as janitor of the church and Reverend Muller, the pastor serving Trinity at the time, introduced the practice of spiritual healing. The introduction of spiritual healing caused discord in the congregation. Marks became involved in a movement to remove Muller from the church. Muller left Trinity in February 1989. Before Muller left, he and Marks engaged in a confrontation in the church after a meeting. Both were reprimanded.

Reverend James Medendorp, pastor at the nearby Dumont Reformed Church, became moderator and superintendent of Trinity after Muller left. There was great discord at Trinity, so Medendorp asked Reverend Hartgerink to come to Trinity as interim pastor. Hartgerink was specially trained in interim ministry to assist troubled churches through their difficulties and make them viable churches again. Marks became angry with Hartgerink because he thought that Hartgerink was encouraging his wife to divorce him and his son to disobey him.

In April 1990 the board of elders temporarily suspended Marks' privileges of membership and barred him from attending the church services. The congregation was informed of this move. Later the elders asked the police to be present at the church in case Marks showed up and attempted to disrupt services.

On May 31, 1990, Leslie Van Raden wrote a letter making formal charges against Marks. The charges instituted excommunication proceedings. The full text of the letter reads:

May 31, 1990

Dear Mr. Clerk:

I feel that the time has come to place before the elders of the Trinity Reformed Church the formation of actual written charges against Mr. John Bernard Marks as a member of the Trinity Reformed Church. These charges come only after much prayer and serious consideration and are being brought forth out of great concern for the well-being of all members of Christ's Church here at Trinity, both for the present and for the future. The specific charges which are to follow do not come out of any personal vendetta towards Mr. Marks but rather out of the deep desire for the problems to be resolved for our Church. It appears that everyone involved is anxious to get this over with so that we can all get on with our lives. The charges which I am about to present involve the offensive behavior patterns of Mr. Marks as witnessed to over a period of time. Some of these offensive behaviors I have witnessed personally; others come from the shared testimony of others. I am hereby charging him with abusing his privileges as a member of the church and for disrupting the communion of the body of Christ. The examples of the offensive behaviors are as follows: First of all, there have been the relentless and demanding phone calls from Mr. Marks over a period of the past several months. This includes the many, many phone calls I have personally received, as well as that reported to me by Pastor Medendorp, Pastor Hartgerink and the other elders. These phone calls have been offensive, abusive, harassing, disruptive and threatening in nature. Mr. Marks has personally made such statements about Pastor Hartgerink to me as: "Pastor Ken is a dirty sucker"; "It takes a lot of guts and shit"; "He is a life wrecker, traitor and marriage wrecker"; "I'm going to an institution because of him"; "My teeth will go a long ways in Pastor Ken"; "I'm going to kick him in the shins".

Second, Pastor has shared with me that on April 5 he endeavored to visit Mr. Marks' son Curtis at the Marion Health Center in Sioux City, Iowa. I understand that he had received prior approval for a visit with him and that Mr. Marks somehow was able to get that visit cancelled after Pastor Ken had traveled the distance to be of help to Curtis. I understand that no parishioner is allowed to interfere with help and counsel offered to another member.

Third, Pastor Hartgerink shared with me that he had received a phone call on the morning of April 28 and that Mr. Marks demanded to know what was in the letter sent to him on April 18 by the board of elders. After Pastor Ken told him that the elders decided to temporarily suspend him from the privileges of membership that he reacted angrily with "up your ass-hole".

Fourth, On or about April 28 Mr. Marks also phoned myself and John Henning, as well as Pastor Medendorp during the same period of time, and demanded a meeting with the consistory on Sunday April 29 and if he did not get his way that he would actually disrupt that morning's worship services. Mr. Marks phoned late that night of April 28 and demanded that I should go over to Pastor Ken's house and "kick him out".

Fifth, On Sunday A.M. April 29 Angie Hartgerink answered the parsonage phone and after telling who he was Mr. Marks asked if "Judas was there"?, then went on to ask her "what it was like to live with a Judas"? He also asked her what she thought of "someone who breaks up a marriage"? He also informed her that he "got his directions from God" and that "God was on his side". At about this time Mr. Marks also referred to me as "Judas".

To the best of my knowledge I have stated the above as accurately as possible.

A trial to the church judiciary was held on June 30, 1990 and Marks was found guilty of the charges. He was notified that if he failed to show marks of repentance, the board of elders would proceed to excommunication.

At a July 16, 1990 meeting between Marks and the elders, the conversation heated up and defendant Westendorf exploded and called Marks a "lying bastard." Westendorf has apologized to Marks for the outburst. Later, the board of elders met and voted to excommunicate Marks. The board sent Marks a letter dated July 18 informing him that he would be excommunicated from the church effective July 21. The congregation was informed on July 22 that Marks had been excommunicated.

On September 26, 1990 the clerk of the consistory sent a letter to Marks informing him that the consistory of the church, including Reverend Hartgerink, would no longer accept any telephone calls from him and that any future calls from him would be considered harassment.

In December 1990, Trinity hired a new pastor to start in February of 1991. The new pastor decided not to become involved in the former conflict. He asked the board of elders to write Marks a letter informing him that he would not accept his phone calls.

Marks filed an action for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the defendants. He alleged that nine statements made by the defendants were defamatory and constituted outrageous conduct.

(1) A letter dated April 18, 1990 informing Marks he was being temporarily suspended from privileges of membership and attending services and setting forth the reasons for the suspension.

(2) An oral communication to the church members that Marks' privileges of membership and attending services were temporarily suspended.

(3) A letter dated July 18, 1990 informing Marks he was excommunicated from the church.

(4) An oral communication to the church members that Marks had been excommunicated.

(5) Statements made the week of July 22 through July 28, 1990, allegedly informing church members not to communicate with Marks.

(6) The May 31, 1990 letter initiating excommunication proceedings against Marks.

(7) An October 9, 1990 letter from the board of elders mentioning Marks' excommunication.

(8) The September 26, 1990 letter informing Marks that any attempts to call Hartgerink and the members of the consistory would be considered harassment.

(9) The December 31, 1990 letter informing Marks that the new pastor would not accept his telephone calls and that any calls to him would be considered harassment.

The defendants answered and filed a motion for summary judgment. In its ruling the district court granted summary judgment on all the alleged defamatory statements except the May 31 letter. The court also granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. The defendants filed a motion to reconsider the ruling on the May 31 letter. On...