$17 Million Verdict Has Many Concerned Common Good Chair Philip K. Howard Quoted in Article on the Impact of Legal Fear on Religious Institutions
Derrick Nunnally
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, February 23, 2005 How much liability does an organization incur for an accident caused by a volunteer? That is the specific issue raised by a recent jury verdict saying the Archdiocese of Milwaukee "should pay $17 million to the 84-year-old victim of a car wreck caused by a parish group volunteer."
The larger issue is the pervasive impact of legal fear on society, and the need for courts to ensure that decisions balance the interests of everyone. Said Common Good chair Philip K. Howard, "The notion of $15 million in pain and suffering to a person who's nearing the end of life needs to be balanced against who's paying for that. ... In effect, they're making this elderly gentleman's family rich at the expense of everyone in the parish. Is that a fair result? Doesn't sound like it to me."
As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports, "[a] reliance on community outreach is the hallmark of virtually every religious congregation." Now, as both Howard and Marquette University law professor John Kircher told the Journal-Sentinel, "the size and nature of the verdict against the archdiocese might make other churches rethink the situation."
The case against the Archdiocese arose after Margaret Morse, a member of the Legion of Mary at Christ King Parish in Wauwatosa, "caused an accident that left Hjalmer Heikkinen of West Allis a quadriplegic. Morse's insurance had a $50,000 limit, so the church and the archdiocese were pulled into the lawsuit."
Christ King Parish attorney Frank L. Steeves said the church "is still evaluating ... what to do about volunteer groups that aid the church, if they're all going to be seen as legal liabilities. 'You don't want to be liable for their accidents, but you don't want to inhibit doing good works, either,' Steeves said."
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