Smith v. O'Connell, 93-615-T.
| Citation | 986 F.Supp. 73 |
| Decision Date | 25 November 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-661-T.,No. 93-615-T.,No. 93-660-T.,93-615-T.,93-660-T.,93-661-T. |
| Parties | Kenneth SMITH v. Rev. William C. O'CONNELL, et al. Michael KELLY v. Robert MARCANTONIO, et al. Stephen KELLY v. Robert MARCANTONIO, et al. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
Richard Daniel Prentiss, McGovern, Noel & Benik, Providence, RI, Carl P. DeLuca, DeLuca & DeLuca, Providence, RI, Richard A. Cappalli, Woonsocket, RI, Timothy J. Conlon, Providence, RI, for Kenneth Smith.
Thomas R. Bender, William A. Curran, James T. Murphy, Hanson, Curran, Parks & Whitman, Providence, RI, William T. Murphy, Providence, RI, for William C. O'Connell, St. Mary's Church Corp.
Thomas R. Bender, James T. Murphy, Hanson, Curran, Parks & Whitman, Providence, RI, William T. Murphy, Providence, RI, R. Christopher Barden, R.C. Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, Charles H. Wilson, Washington, DC, for Kenneth Angell, Daniel P. Reilly.
Thomas R. Bender, William A. Curran, James T. Murphy, Mark W. Dana, Hanson, Curran, Parks & Whitman, Providence, RI, William T. Murphy, Providence, RI, R. Christopher Barden, R.C. Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, Charles H. Wilson, Washington, DC, for Louis A. Gelineau.
Thomas R. Bender, Hanson, Curran, Parks & Whitman, Providence, RI, R. Christopher Barden, R.C. Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, Charles H. Wilson, Washington, DC, for Church of the Holy Ghost North Tiverton.
Thomas R. Bender, James T. Murphy, Mark W, Dana, Hanson, Curran, Parks & Whitman, Providence, RI, William T. Murphy, Providence, RI, R. Christopher Barden, R.C. Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, Charles H. Wilson, Washington, DC, for Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence.
Susan E. McGuirl, Richard C. Bicki, Cerilli, McGuirl & Bicki, Providence, RI, Lise M. Iwon, Laurence and Iwon, Wakefield, RI, for Michael Kelly, Stephen Kelly.
Gerald C. DeMaria, Paul S. Callaghan, Higgins, Cavanaugh & Cooney, Providence, RI, for Robert Marcantonio.
James T. Murphy, Mark W, Dana, Hanson, Curran, Parks & Whitman, Providence, RI, R. Christopher Barden, R.C. Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, Charles H. Wilson, Washington, DC, for Louis E. Gelineau.
William T. Murphy, Providence, RI, R. Christopher Barden, R.C. Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, Charles H. Wilson, Washington, DC, for Daniel P. Reilly, St. John Vianney Church, Raymond A. Beaulieu.
The plaintiffs in these consolidated cases seek to recover damages for sexual assaults allegedly committed by two Roman Catholic priests serving in the Diocese of Providence. The defendants are the priests, various diocesan officials and the churches where the alleged assaults occurred. The diocesan officials and the churches (collectively referred to as the "hierarchy defendants") have moved, under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) to dismiss the claims against them for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The issue presented is whether the First Amendment divests secular courts of jurisdiction over claims against officials of hierarchial churches where liability is predicated upon the officials' alleged failure to take appropriate action to prevent sexual assaults by clergy subject to their authority. Under the circumstances presented in this case, I answer that question in the negative. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss is denied.
It is neither necessary nor useful to provide a detailed account of the allegations set forth in the complaints or the multitude of legal theories upon which the plaintiffs' claims are based. Each complaint exceeds 100 pages, in length, and contains nineteen counts asserting causes of action that run the gamut from breach of fiduciary duty to premises liability. Some of the claims may raise legitimate First Amendment concerns and other claims may not be viable under negligence law. However, because the motions to dismiss are not directed specifically at individual counts, the Court will focus on what appear to be the plaintiffs' core claims.
At the heart of these cases are allegations that, during the 1970's and early 1980's, when the plaintiffs were minors, they were sexually molested by the defendant priests. It is further alleged, inter alia, that prior to such molestation, the hierarchy defendants knew that the priests were pedophiles and not only failed to take appropriate preventative action, but also actively concealed the priests' sexual misconduct.
The hierarchy defendants argue that the First Amendment bars adjudication of these claims for several reasons. First, they contend that entertaining these suits would constitute the kind of interference with the internal affairs of a hierarchical church that is prohibited by what the hierarchy defendants call the "religious autonomy doctrine". In addition, the hierarchy defendants assert that holding them liable for failing to conform to tort law standards of conduct would infringe upon their First Amendment rights because those standards conflict with the standards established by Roman Catholic doctrine and practices. Finally, the hierarchy defendants suggest that litigating these claims would require the Court to become "excessively entangled" in religious matters.
When subject matter jurisdiction is challenged, the plaintiff has the burden of establishing that jurisdiction exists. Bank One, Texas, N.A. v. Montle, 964 F.2d 48, 50 (1st Cir.1992). In determining whether that burden has been met, the Court, initially, must treat all of the well-pleaded facts alleged in the complaint as true and must draw all reasonable inferences favorable to the plaintiff. Murphy v. United States, 45 F.3d 520, 522 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1144, 115 S.Ct. 2581, 132 L.Ed.2d 831 (1995). However, in contrast to a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the Court, in deciding a Rule 12(b)(1) motion, is not limited to the allegations in the complaint. Evidence challenging and/or supplementing the jurisdictional allegations also may be considered. Aversa v. United States, 99 F.3d 1200, 1210 (1st Cir.1996); see 2 James Wm. Moore et al., Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 12.30[3] (3d ed.1997).
In these cases, the complaints allege sufficient facts to establish subject matter jurisdiction. The hierarchy defendants' jurisdictional challenge is based upon several affidavits describing religious doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The plaintiffs have been afforded an opportunity to conduct discovery with respect to those doctrines and practices but have not challenged the statements contained in the affidavits.
It is well established that the First Amendment prohibits secular courts from intervening in the internal affairs of hierarchical churches by deciding what, essentially, are religious matters. See, e.g., Serbian E. Orthodox Diocese for the United States and Canada v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 708-10, 96 S.Ct. 2372, 2380-81, 49 L.Ed.2d 151 (1976); Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Mem'l Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S. 440, 449, 89 S.Ct. 601, 606, 21 L.Ed.2d 658 (1969). The hierarchy defendants refer to this principle as the "religious autonomy doctrine."
This prohibition derives from cases arising out of disputes between parties within a church in which an interpretation of ecclesiastical law or church doctrine was required. For example, in Milivojevich it was held that the First Amendment barred a state court from invalidating, as arbitrary, the removal of a Serbian Orthodox Bishop by an ecclesiastical court. The court stated:
[C]ivil courts are bound to accept the decisions of the highest judiciaries of a religious organization of hierarchical polity on matters of discipline, faith, internal organization, or ecclesiastical rule, custom, or law. For civil courts to analyze whether the ecclesiastical actions of a church judicatory are in that sense "arbitrary" must inherently entail inquiry into the procedures that canon or ecclesiastical law supposedly requires the church judicatory to follow, or else in to the substantive criteria by which they are supposedly to decide the ecclesiastical question. But this is exactly the inquiry that the First Amendment prohibits; recognition of such an exception would undermine the general rule that religious controversies are not the proper subject of civil court inquiry, and that a civil court must accept the ecclesiastical decisions of church tribunals as it finds them.
Milivojevich, 426 U.S. at 713, 96 S.Ct. at 2382.
Similarly, in Presbyterian Church, it was held that a civil court had no authority to decide whether local churches that withdrew from a hierarchical church organization were entitled to property previously used by the local churches because resolution of the dispute turned upon whether the hierarchical church had abandoned or departed from its tenets of faith and practice. The Court explained that:
First Amendment values are plainly jeopardized when church property litigation is made to turn on the resolution by civil courts of controversies over religious doctrine and practice.... [T]he [First] Amendment therefore commands civil courts to decide church property disputes without resolving underlying controversies over religious doctrine. Hence, States, religious organizations, and individuals must structure relationships involving church property so as not to require the civil courts to resolve ecclesiastical questions.
Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S. at 449, 89 S.Ct. at 606.
Most, if not all, of the other cases citing the so-called "religious autonomy doctrine" as a bar to jurisdiction also have dealt either with challenges by clergy to disciplinary action taken against them, see Natal v. Christian and Missionary Alliance, 878 F.2d 1575 (1st Cir.1989); Hutchison v. Thomas, 789 F.2d 392 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 885 107 S.Ct. 277, 93 L.Ed.2d 253 (1986), or with disagreements...
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