Charitable immunity
law is narrowed
Justices' ruling lets
abuse suit proceed against choir school
By GREGORY J. VOLPE.
app.com from the Web, August 9, 2006
TRENTON — State law does not
shield nonprofits from liability for its staff who sexually abuse children, the
state Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
The court ruled that the American Boychoir School in Princeton does not get
protection from the state's Charitable Immunity Act because it applies only to
negligence claims.
John W. Hardwicke Jr. sued the school and several employees in 2001, claiming
the music director, Donald Hanson, other employees and students abused him when
he was a child attending the school in the early 1970s. Hanson now lives
in Canada and no longer works at the school.
Writing the 5-1 majority opinion, Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz said state law
"immunizes simple negligence only, and not "other forms of aggravated wrongful
conduct, such as malice or fraud, or intentional, reckless and wanton, or even
grossly negligent behavior.' "
Hardwicke, 49, of White Hall, Md., thanked the court for a decision he says will
give victims of sexual abuse as children their day in court.
"For five years, we've had a lawsuit against the Boychoir School, and we've
never had an opportunity to present any evidence at all, and the school has just
been able to claim for five years that they are simply not responsible for the
care of children that are entrusted to them," Hardwicke said.
In a statement, the school's president, Donald B. Edwards, said the school is
sorry that Hanson abused students and hopes the case will be resolved.
"It will be a difficult and painful experience for a trial court to determine 35
years after the fact the truth of what happened to Mr. Hardwicke and the degree
of the school's liability," Edwards said. "We hope it will be possible to
resolve the case in a manner that allows Mr. Hardwicke to get on with his life
and allows the school to advance its educational mission of building lives of
achievement and character through the power of music."
The decision, coupled with a state law signed in January that increased the
civil liability for nonprofits whose employees sexually abuse children, has
created more protection for children than existed when Hardwicke and several
other boychoir students were molested, said Hardwicke's lawyer, Lawrence Lessig.
Jay Greenblatt, the lawyer representing the school, said the court's ruling
places too much liability on employers for employees' actions outside their
scope of employment.
"It's almost strict liability," Greenblatt said. "It's extremely difficult
to defend against, and it's a slippery slope."
Hardwicke lost the first round in state Superior Court, Trenton, but an
appellate ruling affirmed the rights of sexual-abuse victims to sue nonprofits,
which the Supreme Court upheld Monday in sending the matter back to trial in
Superior Court.
The Supreme Court sided with Hardwicke, 5-1. Justice Barry T. Albin did
not participate. Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto dissented, disagreeing
with the majority's interpretation of the Charitable Immunity Act.
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