Odenthal v. MCSDA

• Decision Date: 15 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. C1-01-278, No. C4-01-291.
• Citation: 649 N.W.2d 426
• Parties: Steven R. ODENTHAL, Appellant, v. MINNESOTA CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS, Respondent, General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists; Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Defendants, and Lowell Rideout, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

649 N.W.2d 426

Steven R. ODENTHAL, Appellant, v. MINNESOTA CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS, Respondent, General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists; Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Defendants, and Lowell Rideout, Respondent.

Nos. C1-01-278, C4-01-291.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

August 15, 2002.

Ronald I. Meshbesher, Katherine S. Flom, Meshbesher & Spence, Ltd., Minneapolis, MN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Patrick Tierney, Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh, St. Paul, MN, Attorney for Respondent MCSDA.

Richard L. Pemberton, Leantha G. Wolter, Erica Gutmann Strohl, Meagher & Geer, PLLP, Minneapolis, MN, Attorneys for Respondent Rideout.

Eric E. Jorstad, Daniel J. Connolly, Bruce Jones, Faegre & Benson, LLP, Minneapolis, MN, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, Minnesota Religious Council.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

BLATZ, Chief Justice.

Appellant Steven Odenthal filed a claim against his former minister, respondent Lowell Rideout, alleging clergy malpractice, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty or confidential relationship, and negligence, based on Rideout's conduct in providing marriage counseling to Odenthal and his wife. Odenthal also sued the Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Minnesota Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists (MCSDA), and the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists (collectively, the Churches) for vicarious liability, negligent training and supervision, and negligent retention. On motions for summary judgment by Rideout, the Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and the MCSDA,¹ the district court dismissed the clergy malpractice, emotional distress, and fiduciary duty claims against Rideout, but concluded that its jurisdiction over the negligence claim against Rideout was not prohibited by the prohibition on excessive government entanglement with religion in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or Minnesota's prohibition on alienation-of-affection claims. Finally, finding that the MCSDA was Rideout's actual employer, the district court granted the Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church's motion for summary judgment on all claims against it, but denied the MCSDA's motion on the vicarious liability and negligence claims.

Rideout and the MCSDA appealed. The court of appeals reversed, holding that resolution of Odenthal's negligent-counseling claim unconstitutionally entangled the district court in "religious doctrine, practice, or church polity." We granted Odenthal's petition for further review and now reverse.

Summary judgment is appropriate when the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Goins v. West Group, 635 N.W.2d 717, 722 (Minn.2001). On appeal from a summary judgment, the reviewing court determines whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court erred in its application of the law. Id.

In the spring of 1997, Diane Odenthal left her husband, Steven Odenthal, to spend the night with another man. When she returned the next day, Odenthal and Diane telephoned their minister at the Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Lowell Rideout. Rideout instructed Odenthal to tell Diane to stay until they could meet together to discuss the Odenthals' relationship. When asked to define the purpose of the initial meeting with the Odenthals, Rideout responded: "The first purpose and a continuing purpose throughout was to try to find out what they were working with, try to understand what the presenting problems were, what they perceived were the problems."² Rideout testified that this meeting focused on "their thoughts, their feelings; I don't recall making any scriptural applications in the first visit, although I may have." Odenthal testified that Rideout and the Odenthals planned to continue meeting on a weekly basis.

According to Odenthal, Rideout described the early sessions as "marital counseling." Odenthal testified that the meetings opened with a prayer, but concentrated on marital issues. Rideout said he was an appropriate person to provide marital therapy, and Odenthal understood that Rideout would not have entered into the relationship if he had not felt it was appropriate. Odenthal believed Rideout had experience in the field of psychology because during their initial counseling sessions Rideout would refer to psychology classes he had taken.³ Further, Odenthal believed Rideout had held himself out as marriage counselor because "[h]e took charge right away" and "knew exactly what to say to Diane." During one of the early sessions, however, Rideout told Odenthal that he was attracted to Diane.

Odenthal testified that he, Diane, and Rideout met once or twice every two weeks between May and August of 1997. These meetings were held at the Odenthals' home most of the time, but were occasionally held at the church or Odenthal's office.

The Odenthals also sought professional counseling during this period and met with a marriage counselor, Sandra Thorne, approximately 10 to 20 times between May and August of 1997. By August, their relationship had improved markedly: Odenthal testified that Thorne told them in one of their final sessions: "Wouldn't be surprised if I don't see you guys in here ever again because you're doing so well." The Odenthals soon renewed their marriage vows.

The Odenthals stopped seeing Thorne after they renewed their vows, but continued to see Rideout. Odenthal explained, "we were paying [to see Thorne]. Lowell was free." Odenthal explained he and Diane wanted to continue to focus on the "spiritual aspect" of their relationship, which was "[n]ot from a Bible study perspective, but from a marriage relationship, how to communicate with each other and techniques involved in keeping the communication, what we'd learned in counseling, keep that open, keep it going." Odenthal testified that they did not go to Rideout because they needed religious counseling, but because they needed "maintenance." Odenthal stated that he and his wife "wanted to be sure that we didn't back slide and get into the same trouble we were in."

Between August 1997 and February 1998, the Odenthals met with Rideout at least every other week, but their marriage deteriorated to the point where it was "very rocky." Odenthal indicated that Rideout administered a test or examination during this period "to determine why we were having difficulty."⁴ According to Odenthal's recollection of the results, "there [were] five or six different types of personalities, and he—I was this type, Diane was this type and then to kind of give a perspective he gave us what type he was, and it was very similar to Diane's." According to Odenthal, Rideout told them "it would make it very difficult for us to have a harmonious marriage or relationship * * * because it would make us work too much. There's nothing [that] would come easy."

According to Odenthal, Rideout emphasized more than just the Odenthals' personality differences:

[O]ne of the things that came out about Diane not liking about me was that I wasn't thin enough, I wasn't effeminate. She liked the feminine men, kind of intellectual, and he concluded that her horrible relationship with her father and being raised by her older sister, she may have some lesbian tendencies or some tendencies toward a feminine type man * * *.

According to Odenthal, Rideout noted to him, "Clearly, you are not [effeminate]."

During the fall and winter of 1997-1998, Odenthal began to believe that Diane was shutting him out and beginning to form an attachment to Rideout. He testified that Rideout and Diane met at the Odenthals' home, but he was not made aware of the sessions at the time. Odenthal was concerned the relationship between Diane and Rideout "was becoming personal, crossing personal bounds, that she was no longer looking up to him as somebody who knew what he was talking about and could impart advice but more as a close friend."

In February 1998, Rideout changed the composition of his sessions with the Odenthals. According to Odenthal, "it was staying the same, and we weren't getting any better, so [Rideout] thought he should bring other people into the mix * * *." Dan Odenthal (Steven Odenthal's brother) and Kathy Just (a member of the congregation with counseling experience) began attending the sessions. Rideout may have performed another evaluation during one of the sessions when Dan Odenthal was present.⁵ After three or four sessions, Just told Rideout that she and he "were too personally involved with the Odenthals to provide them with adequate marital counseling, due in part to the fact that we were good friends with both of them and that they had significant marital issues." The Odenthals soon began meeting with another psychologist, John Stolle. But at approximately the same time, Diane and Rideout began meeting at the Odenthals' home, alone except for one of the Odenthals' children.

In May of 1998, Diane attended an out-of-town seminar with many members of the Minnetonka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, including Rideout and Kathy Just. Steven Odenthal did not attend the conference. Just testified:

Numerous times during the seminar, Diane sought and received counsel from Lowell Rideout regarding her problems with Steven. Some of those sessions took place in Diane's motel room. After the seminar, Rideout and Diane Odenthal chose to walk the approximate three miles back to the motel, rather than ride with the rest of the church members. Diane Odenthal walked barefoot, and I later became aware that Rideout had carried her across certain places.

According to Odenthal, when the group returned from the conference, Rideout told him Diane "acts a little bit differently when she's—when she's out in public and away from you[,] * * * she kind of lets her hair down, and does...