Opinion ID: 1758492
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Boy Scouts of America

Text: The existence of a duty is a question of law for the court to decide from the particular facts of the case. Greater Houston Transp. Co. v. Phillips, 801 S.W.2d 523, 525 (Tex.1990). In deciding whether to impose a duty, the court must balance several interrelated factors. We must weigh the risk, foreseeability, and likelihood of injury against the social utility of the actor's conduct, the magnitude of the burden of guarding against the injury, and the consequences of placing the burden on the defendant. Id. We have also emphasized other factors, including whether one party had superior knowledge of the risk or a right to control the actor who caused the harm. Graff v. Beard, 858 S.W.2d 918, 920 (Tex.1993). Here, it is undisputed that BSA had no knowledge of any allegations of sexual abuse by Estes before his selection as scoutmaster of Troop 223. BSA keeps a list of people reported to them as unfit for leadership, and BSA will refuse to commission a person on the list as a troop leader. Estes, however, was not on BSA's unfit list, and BSA had no way of knowing of Estes's past history with C.C. or any other boys. Thus, Estes's actions were not foreseeable to BSA. In addition, to place a duty on BSA to screen adult volunteers about whom it has no knowledge and over whom it has little or no control would be a tremendous burden. There are about 130,000 units nationwide run by approximately 1,300,000 adult volunteers. Therefore, under these facts, we hold that the BSA had no duty to screen an adult volunteer about whom it had no knowledge and over whom it had no right of control. See Infant C. v. Boy Scouts of Am., Inc., 239 Va. 572, 391 S.E.2d 322, 324-26 (1990) (refusing to impose liability on BSA when BSA had no knowledge of scoutmaster's previous conviction for sexual molestation and had no part in selecting scoutmaster). Akins also contends, and the court of appeals agreed, that BSA can still be held vicariously liable for any negligence by GSC under a respondeat superior theory. 888 S.W.2d at 44. However, the evidence in this case shows that GSC is a separate corporate entity from BSA and that BSA has no right to control GSC's activities. To carry out its programs in certain geographical areas, BSA charters local councils, like GSC, to have jurisdiction over a set area. GSC is one of about 400 of these local councils. Each local council is a separate non-profit corporation with its own articles of incorporation, bylaws, and board of directors. Thus, as a practical matter, BSA has no direct control over GSC's day-to-day activities. This evidence demonstrates that GSC is not BSA's servant because the right to control remains the supreme test for whether the master-servant relationship exists. Newspapers, Inc. v. Love, 380 S.W.2d 582, 590 (Tex.1964); see also Anderson v. Boy Scouts of Am., Inc., 226 Ill.App.3d 440, 168 Ill.Dec. 492, 494-95, 589 N.E.2d 892, 894-95 (1992) (concluding that no agency relationship existed between BSA and scoutmaster who ran over infant while making delivery for troop because no direct control over his activities was shown). Thus, the court of appeals erred in holding that BSA could be found liable for the acts of GSC. We therefore reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment for BSA.