Source: https://www.churchlawandtax.com/library/legal-issues-for-pastors/chapter-4-liabilities-limitations-and-restrictions/clergy-malpractice/
Timestamp: 2019-01-17 17:59:12
Document Index: 430126020

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 5']

Volume 1 . Chapter 4 . § 4-05
Key point 4-05. Most courts have rejected clergy malpractice as a basis for liability in all cases. A few courts have found clergy guilty of malpractice for engaging in sexual misconduct with an adult or minor, or if they engage in "nonreligious" counseling.
Malpractice generally is defined as a failure to exercise an accepted degree of skill in the performance of professional duties that results in injury to another. In the past, malpractice suits were restricted almost exclusively to doctors and lawyers-a doctor prescribed the wrong medication or made a faulty diagnosis; a lawyer missed a pleading deadline or made an error in a title search. But in recent years a small number of malpractice suits have been brought against ministers.
Skip to: Chapter 4: Liabilities, Limitations and RestrictionsChapter 1: Definitions and StatusChapter 2: The Pastor-Church RelationshipChapter 3: Authority, Rights and PrivilegesChapter 5: DefinitionsChapter 6: Organization and AdministrationChapter 7: Church PropertyChapter 8Chapter 8, Part 1: Selection of EmployeesChapter 8, Part 2: Compensation and BenefitsChapter 8, Part 3: Employment DiscriminationChapter 8, Part 4: TerminationChapter 8, Part 5: Miscellaneous IssuesChapter 9: Government Regulation of ChurchesChapter 10: Church Legal LiabilityChapter 11: A Summary of Constitutional HistoryChapter 12: Landmark Supreme Court Decisions Interpreting the First Amendment Religion ClausesChapter 13: The Present Meaning of the First Amendment Religion ClausesChapter 14: Significant First Amendment IssuesLegal BriefsInstructional AidsNegligenceDefamationUndue InfluenceInvasion of PrivacyContract LiabilitySecurities Law ViolationsFailure to Report Child AbuseTable 4-1 Application of Child Abuse Reporting Laws to Ministers and Lay Church Workers—A SummaryDiversion of Church FundsState Regulation of Psychologists and CounselorsTable 4.2 State Laws Exempting Clergy from Psychologist Licensure RequirementsSexual MisconductAppendix 1: Eligibility to Perform Marriage CeremoniesAppendix 2: Eligibility of Clergy for Jury DutyAppendix 3: Clergy-Penitent PrivilegeAppendix 4: Child Abuse Reporting LawsTable Appendix 4: 50-State Survey of Child Abuse Reporting