The court today (by virtue of a split and one absentee) upheld a lower court's ruling that socked the Milwaukee archdiocese with a $17 million payout in a civil case involving a car accident.
In a nutshell, the ruling held the archdiocese liable, as one website puts it, "because a volunteer member of a volunteer group that occasionally meets on church property ran a red light." The website, Overlawyered, adds: "This makes sense for a business, which chooses its employees, and can hire and fire. Is a church supposed to do the same for religious volunteer groups that occasionally meet on its property? That's one way to ensure there will be less volunteer activity: the church will need to hire someone to supervise and screen volunteer groups in a way that isn't done now."
In otherwords, the decision is overreaching. It's yet another example of how this court has expanded the rights of litigants in nonsensical manner. In a previous article, the lawyer for the archdiocese pointed out: "They (the archdiocese) really do accommodate a huge amount of groups all the time," from religious cooperators such as the Knights of Columbus to secular groups including Alcoholics Anonymous and the Boy Scouts, archdiocese attorney Frank L. Steeves said. "These groups are out doing the kinds of things we don't direct or control in any way."
So, if someone attending an AA meeting at a church crashes into someone next, will the church be liable?
The court's liberal wing, Abrahamson, Walsh Bradley, and, yes, former public defender Louis Butler, who is up for election, sided against the church.
The court's conservative wing, Prosser, Roggensack, and Ziegler went the other way.
Pat Crooks didn't vote.
