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	No Liability for Church In Molestation Matter By Michael Scholl New York Law Journal October 24, 2006 http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?hubtype=TopStories&id=1161606921511 Mineola - A Roman Catholic church and its parent diocese are not liable for damages in connection with the sexual molestation of a 13-year-old boy by a coach in the church's youth basketball program, a state judge has ruled. Supreme Court Justice Karen V. Murphy of Nassau County has awarded summary judgment to the Church of St. Christopher and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre in John Doe v. Church of St. Christopher, 18551/03. The decision appears on page 23 of the print edition of today's Law Journal. The case arises out of the sexual molestation of a 13-year-old boy by Brian Schlacter, a veteran volunteer coach and coordinator of the Catholic Youth Organization basketball program at the Baldwin church. Mr. Schlacter is now incarcerated at Dannemora State Prison, having been convicted of second-degree sodomy against the plaintiff, who was a participant in the St. Christopher CYO basketball program at the time the offense occurred. According to the plaintiff's complaint, Mr. Schlacter sexually abused and sodomized the plaintiff in an office/equipment room next to the church's gymnasium. Mr. Schlacter testified during his deposition that he was not the coach of the plaintiff's team and that the molestation did not take place during practice sessions or in connection with CYO games. Rather, Mr. Schlacter would pick up the plaintiff at the plaintiff's home on Thursday evenings and take him to watch a Police Athletic League basketball game. After the game they would go to Burger King and then to St. Christopher, where the sexual encounters occurred. The complaint alleged causes of action predicated on the negligence of the church and the diocese in failing to properly safeguard the plaintiff as well as negligent retention and supervision of Mr. Schlacter, for which the plaintiff sought punitive damages. In her decision, Justice Murphy wrote that "it is well established under the doctrine of respondeat superior that an employer will be vicariously liable for the tortuous acts of an employee or agent only if those acts were committed within the scope of employment and in furtherance of the employer's business. "Pursuant to the doctrine," Justice Murphy continued, "the employer may be liable when the employee acts negligently or intentionally as long as the tortuous conduct is generally foreseeable and a natural incident of the employment." However, Justice Murphy concluded that since the sexual molestation was clearly outside the scope of Mr. Schlacter's duties as a CYO volunteer, "there is no basis to hold the Church defendants, who may fairly be characterized as either employers or principals vis a vis defendant Schlacter, liable under this theory." The judge noted that the church defendants could potentially be held liable under the theories of negligent hiring, negligent retention and negligent supervision. "However," she wrote, "a necessary element of such a cause of action is that the employer knew, or should have known, of an employee's propensity to commit the acts which caused the injury." Justice Murphy ruled that St. Christopher and the Diocese of Rockville Centre did not know and could not have reasonably known about Mr. Schlacter's propensity to molest because there were no prior reports of his engaging in sexual activity with children during his service in the CYO. "Defendant Schlacter's pedophiliac tendencies were neither known nor foreseeable prior to his molestation of the infant plaintiff," the judge wrote. "There is nothing in the record to indicate that anything transpired during his twenty years of service which would have alerted the Church defendants to the possibility that said defendant posed a danger of sexual assault to the children with whom he was in contact." She continued, "This is not a case in which the Church defendants actually observed, or unreasonably ignored, incidents or complaints preceding the misconduct which indicated that defendant Schlacter represented a threat to the children in the CYO program thereby triggering the need for some protective action by the Church defendants. The general proposition that, tragically, sexual abuse of children is a pervasive problem in society today does not constitute a factual basis upon which to charge the Church defendants with notice that defendant Schlacter posed a danger as a sexual predator to the children involved in the basketball program." Justice Murphy dismissed the plaintiff's causes of action against St. Christopher and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, but she allowed his suit against Mr. Schlacter to stand. The plaintiff was represented by Singer & Kent of Great Neck. The Church of St. Christopher and the Diocese of Rockville Centre were represented by Mulholland Minion & Roe of Williston Park. E-mail: mscholl@alm.com
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