Murphy v. I.S.K. Con. of New England, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 May 1991
• Parties: , 59 USLW 2705 Susan MURPHY, et. al. 1 v. I.S.K.CON. OF NEW ENGLAND, INC.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 340

571 N.E.2d 340

409 Mass. 842, 59 USLW 2705

Susan MURPHY, et. al. ¹ v. I.S.K.CON. OF NEW ENGLAND, INC.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Norfolk.

Argued Sept. 6, 1990.

Decided May 1, 1991.

David Kelston (David Liberman, with him), for defendant.

James A. Frieden, for Susan Murphy.

Mary John Boylan (Francis J. O'Rourke, with her), for Mary Murphy.

David A. Hoffman and John Reinstein, for Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, amicus curiae, submitted a brief.

Before LIACOS, C.J., and WILKINS, ABRAMS, NOLAN, LYNCH, O'CONNOR and GREANEY, JJ.

LIACOS, Chief Justice.

On June 16, 1987, a jury awarded $610,000 to the plaintiffs Susan Murphy and her mother, Mary Murphy, for damages arising out of their involvement with the defendant, I.S.K.Con. of New England, Inc. (ISKCON N.E.). The defendant now appeals claiming that the trial below constituted a "heresy trial" and that the jury's verdicts against the defendant represent an impermissible restraint on ISKCON N.E.'s right to practice freely its religion. The defendant argues that one of the plaintiffs' claims, for intentional interference with parental rights, does not exist under the common law of the Commonwealth. The defendant also alleges that the plaintiffs did not present sufficient evidence to meet their burden of proof on their tort claims and that the verdicts are invalid due to the judge's erroneous jury instructions. Finally, the defendant claims that the trial judge improperly deprived ISKCON N.E. of the protection of a statutory liability limit of $20,000 for charitable organizations. Based on our review of the record, we conclude that the trial below impermissibly infringed on the defendant's right to practice freely its religion. Accordingly, we vacate the judgments against the defendant for the counts of intentional infliction of emotional distress, and order entry of judgment for the defendant on those counts. We remand the case for retrial on the claims of intentional interference with parental rights, breach of a duty of care, and vicarious liability for assault and battery. ²

1. Facts. We present a brief description of the facts the jury could have found, based on the evidence put before it. Additional facts will be discussed in later sections of this opinion as they become relevant to our legal analysis.

This case originated in Randolph in the winter of 1971 when Susan Murphy, then thirteen years old, began to explore the beliefs of the Hare Krishna religion, also referred to as Krishna Consciousness. ³ At this time Susan occasionally attended Sunday feasts at a Krishna temple located in Boston. During the summer of 1972, Susan began to attend the temple more frequently after she became acquainted with Doug Hewer, a nineteen or twenty year old occasional practitioner of Krishna Consciousness. At some point during the fall of 1972, Susan and Doug became girl friend and boy friend.

Susan's mother, Mary Murphy, remained unaware of Susan's interest in Krishna Consciousness or her attendance at the Boston Krishna temple until February or March, 1973. Mary forbade Susan from visiting the temple again, but Susan continued to attend the temple without informing her mother.

In February, 1973, Susan and Doug met with Vishnu-Jana, a Krishna sannyasi, or swami, ⁴ to discuss Susan's desire to become "Krishna conscious" by living according to the principles of Krishna Consciousness. Susan also told Vishnu-Jana of her mother's unwillingness to allow Susan to attend the Boston temple. Vishnu-Jana told Susan and Doug that the most important goal for Susan was to become Krishna conscious, and that she should do what was necessary to attain that goal. After the meeting, Susan and Doug considered themselves married to each other by the power of Vishnu-Jana's advice. From then on, they presented themselves as a married couple, with Susan wearing traditional Krishna symbols of marriage. At this time, Susan was fourteen years old.

About March, 1973, Susan ran away with Doug to Toronto, Canada, and then to Los Angeles, California. During their travels, Susan and Doug received the assistance and friendship of several Krishna Consciousness practitioners. Susan, after speaking with her mother on the telephone, returned to Massachusetts in the fall of 1973 with Doug and resumed living with her mother. Approximately two months after returning to Massachusetts, Susan and Doug ran away again to Toronto. From Toronto, Susan and Doug traveled to Los Angeles, where they remained for several months. During this time, Susan and Doug regularly visited a Krishna temple in Los Angeles. Susan and Doug then moved to Hawaii until late 1973 or early 1974, when they returned to Massachusetts and took up residence together. Several weeks after their return to Massachusetts, Susan and Doug left once again for Los Angeles. They remained in Los Angeles for several weeks before traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they resided in a local Krishna temple.

The defendant ISKCON N.E. was incorporated in Massachusetts on February 19, 1974. Some time during the summer of 1974, Susan returned to Massachusetts with Doug to assist Mary in certain legal proceedings unrelated to the present case. For one month Susan and Doug lived together in a rented room. They then moved into the apartment of Traidas and Pramada, members of ISKCON N.E.'s temple. Susan testified that at this time Traidas was the president of the temple. Susan attended the defendant's temple and participated regularly in temple activities. On August 14, 1974, Susan celebrated her sixteenth birthday.

Around September, 1974, Susan and Doug moved into the apartment of Carol and Larry DeGregory, two other members of ISKCON N.E.'s temple. Evidence indicated that Larry was the temple's treasurer. In November, 1974, after moving to another apartment, the two couples requested permission from the temple's president, Adi Kesava, to move into the defendant's temple. Adi Kesava told Susan that she could live in the temple only with her mother's permission, and only if Susan would adhere to the Krishna practices of a vegetarian diet, no illicit sex, no intoxicants, no gambling, and regular participation in temple activity. Susan agreed to these conditions and arranged for Adi Kesava to speak with Mary Murphy who, on certain conditions, consented to Susan living in the temple.

In November, 1974, Susan and Doug moved into ISKCON N.E.'s temple. Susan slept in the women's quarters; Doug slept in the men's quarters. Doug left the temple shortly thereafter, apparently in response to a disagreement with Susan regarding her desire to remain celibate in accordance with Krishna principles. After Doug left the temple, Susan no longer considered herself married to him. During her stay in the temple, Susan participated regularly in chores, rituals, and classes associated with the temple and the practice of Krishna Consciousness. This continued until December, 1974, or January, 1975, when Mary asked Susan to sleep at home on weekends. Susan agreed, but continued to spend most of her time at the temple. Shortly after Susan was formally initiated as a Krishna Consciousness "devotee" in January or February, 1975, Susan began spending every night at Mary's house, although she continued to spend her days at the temple.

In April, 1975, Mary discovered a letter written by Susan which alluded to a "plan" by several members of the defendant's temple to send Susan to West Germany without Mary's knowledge or permission. At this point, Mary telephoned the Weymouth police department and spoke with Officer Henry Vanasse, who agreed to speak to Susan. Mary telephoned Susan at the temple and asked Susan to come home on the pretext that Mary was ill. When Susan arrived, Mary told her that she could not go back to the temple. A brief struggle ensued, but Mary was able to restrain Susan until Officer Vanasse arrived. He informed Susan that she risked legal action against her if she continued to run away. Mary demanded that Susan sever all ties with the defendant's temple, to which Susan reluctantly agreed.

Evidence was presented regarding Susan's emotional condition after her withdrawal from the defendant's temple. This evidence showed that Susan remained quite angry with her mother for several months, and that Susan expressed a desire to return to the temple. Susan's and Mary's relationship began to improve after approximately six months when Susan decided that she no longer wanted to associate with the temple or its members. Additional evidence was presented which, the plaintiffs claimed, established that Susan's experience with the defendant caused Susan to experience "post-traumatic stress disorder," a low sense of self-esteem, and an inability to maintain a healthy relationship with men.

On April 19, 1977, Susan and Mary filed a complaint in the Superior Court alleging nine counts of tortious activity against (1) ISKCON N.E., (2) ISKCON, a Krishna temple located in California, and (3) A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of Krishna Consciousness in the United States. The plaintiffs sought $2,500,000 as compensation for their alleged injuries. The defendants filed motions to dismiss the complaint, which were referred to a special master. Following the master's report, the plaintiffs amended their complaint to substitute a Krishna temple in New York for the California temple, to delete one of the nine causes of action, and to lower the damages sought to $1,000,000.

In April, 1985, the California temple moved to adopt the master's report and to dismiss the California temple from the case. This motion was allowed. The court also allowed a motion to dismiss the complaint against A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In addition, the court dismissed the complaint against the New York temple.

ISKCON N.E. moved for summary judgment as to each count in the plaintiffs' amended complaint. After a hearing, the judge...