Opinion ID: 1311766
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutional Analysis of the Fraud Claim

Text: (9) While the Unification Church's standing as a church is not at issue, [14] Molko and Leal contend the Church's misrepresentations were entirely secular and therefore not protected by the religion clauses. We disagree. Molko and Leal themselves claim the Church made its misrepresentations because of a belief in what they describe as Heavenly Deception. According to Molko and Leal, that doctrine holds, in essence, that it is acceptable to lie to someone in order to give him the opportunity to hear Reverend Moon's teachings. [15] As alleged by the plaintiffs, the Church's deceptions, although secular on the surface, are clearly rooted in religious belief. ( Wisconsin v. Yoder, supra, 406 U.S. at p. 215 [32 L.Ed.2d at p. 25].) While this does not mean such Church misrepresentations are immune from government regulation, it does mean any such regulation must survive constitutional scrutiny. Preliminarily, we note Molko and Leal do not contest the sincerity of what they understand to be the Church's beliefs; indeed, as just stated, they assert the Church's deceptions were the product of sincerely held beliefs. (10) Our initial inquiry, then, is whether plaintiffs' actions for fraud implicate religious belief or religiously motivated conduct. If the former, the actions are barred. ( Sherbert v. Verner, supra, 374 U.S. at pp. 402-403 [10 L.Ed.2d at pp. 969-970].) If the latter, further constitutional analysis is necessary. Molko and Leal claim they do not challenge the truth or falsity of the Church's beliefs; they contend rather that they challenge only the Church's fraudulent conduct in implementing those beliefs. The Court of Appeal disagreed, reasoning that it would be impossible to consider Molko and Leal's theory without questioning the authenticity and force of the Unification Church's religious teachings and permitting a jury to do likewise, which is constitutionally forbidden. The court relied on Katz v. Superior Court, supra, 73 Cal. App.3d 952, in reaching its conclusion, and the Church adopts this view. We therefore examine Katz to determine whether such reliance was properly placed. Like the present case, Katz involved allegations of brainwashing against the Unification Church. The plaintiffs in Katz, however, were not former Church members but parents of current Church members. Claiming their adult children had been brainwashed, the parents sought and received orders from the superior court appointing them temporary conservators of the persons of their children. The parents' objective was to have their children deprogrammed and their children's association with the Unification Church terminated. The Court of Appeal in Katz overturned the conservatorship orders, holding that in the absence of actions rendering the adult believers gravely disabled, the processes of the state could not be used to deprive the believer of his freedom of action and to subject him to involuntary treatment. (73 Cal. App.3d at pp. 988-989.) The court declared the conservatorship orders violated the Church members' free exercise rights because the orders were based on a judgment regarding the truth or falsity of their beliefs. ( Id. at p. 987.) Likening the Church members' radical changes of lifestyle to the refusal of the Amish in Yoder to send their children to high school, the court found the situation one in which conduct could not be separated from beliefs. ( Ibid. ) It queried When the court is asked to determine whether that change [in lifestyle] was induced by faith or by coercive persuasion is it not in turn investigating and questioning the validity of that faith? ( Ibid. ) The Katz court, of course, faced circumstances substantially different from those before us. The conservatorship orders, if allowed to stand, would have directly and severely burdened the Church members' absolute right to believe in the teachings of the Unification Church. Not only would the orders have allowed the parents to remove their adult children from the religious community they claimed to desire; the orders would have further allowed the parents to subject those individuals, against their will, to a program specifically intended to eradicate their current religious beliefs. Thus, the Katz court was correct  as in Yoder, the burden on the Church members' conduct was inseparable from the burden on their beliefs. In sharp contrast, liability for fraud in the case at bar would burden no one's right to believe and no one's right to remain part of his religious community, nor would it subject anyone to involuntary deprogramming: the plaintiffs here are the former Church members themselves. It might, of course, somewhat burden the Church's efforts to recruit new members by deceptive means. The Katz court also faced a legal question markedly different from that now posed: it considered whether a court could determine if an asserted religious conversion was induced by faith or by coercive persuasion. ( Katz v. Superior Court, supra, 73 Cal. App.3d at p. 987.) In other words, the Katz court had to decide whether a court could question the validity of a person's stated faith because someone else claimed that person was brainwashed. ( Ibid. ) Again in contrast, the legal question here does not require a court to determine whether anyone's faith, current or past, is or was real. As stated above, Molko and Leal do not question the Church's beliefs. Neither do they challenge the validity of their former faith; they state quite plainly that their erstwhile beliefs in the Unification Church were sincere. The legal question is simply whether a religious organization can be held liable on a traditional cause of action in fraud for deceiving nonmembers into subjecting themselves, without their knowledge or consent, to coercive persuasion. The Court of Appeal held that although Katz was different in certain ways, its analysis compelled the conclusion that to consider plaintiffs' fraud claims would require questioning the authenticity and the force of the Church's teachings. We disagree. The challenge here, as we have stated, is not to the Church's teachings or to the validity of a religious conversion. The challenge is to the Church's practice of misrepresenting or concealing its identity in order to bring unsuspecting outsiders into its highly structured environment. That practice is not itself belief  it is conduct subject to regulation for the protection of society. ( Cantwell v. Connecticut, supra, 310 U.S. at p. 304 [84 L.Ed.2d at p. 1218].) (11a) Our next inquiry, then, is whether the state's interest in allowing tort liability for the Church's deceptive practices is important enough to outweigh any burden such liability would impose on the Church's religious conduct. ( Wisconsin v. Yoder, supra, 406 U.S. at p. 221 [32 L.Ed.2d at pp. 28-29].) We turn first to the question whether tort liability for fraudulent recruiting practices imposes any burden on the free exercise of the Unification Church's religion. We think it does. While such liability does not impair the Church's right to believe in recruiting through deception, its very purpose is to discourage the Church from putting such belief into practice by subjecting the Church to possible monetary loss for doing so. Further, liability presumably impairs the Church's ability to convert nonbelievers, because some potential members who would have been recruited by deception will choose not to associate with the Church when they are told its true identity. Yet these burdens, while real, are not substantial. Being subject to liability for fraud does not in any way or degree prevent or inhibit Church members from operating their religious communities, worshipping as they see fit, freely associating with one another, selling or distributing literature, proselytizing on the street, soliciting funds, or generally spreading Reverend Moon's message among the population. It certainly does not, like the educational requirement in Yoder, compel Church members to perform acts at odds with fundamental tenets of their religious beliefs. ( Wisconsin v. Yoder, supra, 406 U.S. at p. 218 [32 L.Ed.2d at p. 26].) At most, it potentially closes one questionable avenue for bringing new members into the Church. We must next consider whether a compelling state interest justifies the marginal burden such liability imposes on the Church's free exercise rights. We have no difficulty in finding such an interest in the substantial threat to public safety, peace or order the Church's allegedly fraudulent conduct poses. ( Sherbert v. Verner, supra, 374 U.S. at p. 403 [10 L.Ed.2d at p. 970].) For it is one thing when a person knowingly and voluntarily submits to a process involving coercive influence, as a novice does on entering a monastery or a seminary. (See Schein, Coercive Persuasion (1961) p. 272.) But it is quite another when a person is subjected to coercive persuasion without his knowledge or consent. While some individuals who experience coercive persuasion emerge unscathed, many others develop serious and sometimes irreversible physical and psychiatric disorders, up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide. (See generally Delgado, Religious Totalism: Gentle and Ungentle Persuasion Under the First Amendment, supra, 51 So.Cal.L.Rev. 1, 10-25, and sources cited therein.) The state clearly has a compelling interest in preventing its citizens from being deceived into submitting unknowingly to such a potentially dangerous process. The state has an equally compelling interest in protecting the family institution. (See, e.g., Reynolds v. United States, supra, 98 U.S. 145, 165-166 [25 L.Ed. 244, 250]; Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) 262 U.S. 390, 399-403 [67 L.Ed. 1042, 1045-1047, 43 S.Ct. 625, 29 A.L.R. 1446]; Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) 268 U.S. 510, 534-535 [69 L.Ed. 1070, 1077-1078, 45 S.Ct. 571, 39 A.L.R. 468]; Moore v. City of East Cleveland (1977) 431 U.S. 494, 503-504 [52 L.Ed.2d 531, 539-541, 97 S.Ct. 1932] [plur. opn.].) Since the family almost invariably suffers great stress and sometimes incurs significant financial loss when one of its members is unknowingly subjected to coercive persuasion (Enroth, Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults (1977) pp. 199-201), the state has a compelling interest in protecting families from suffering such impairments as a result of fraud and deception. We conclude, therefore, that although liability for deceptive recruitment practices imposes a marginal burden on the Church's free exercise of religion, the burden is justified by the compelling state interest in protecting individuals and families from the substantial threat to public safety, peace and order posed by the fraudulent induction of unconsenting individuals into an atmosphere of coercive persuasion. Our analysis cannot end here, however. (12) A government action burdening free exercise, even though justified by a compelling state interest, is impermissible if any action imposing a lesser burden on religion would satisfy that interest. ( Thomas v. Review Bd., Ind. Empl. Sec. Div. (1981) 450 U.S. 707, 718 [67 L.Ed.2d 624, 634, 101 S.Ct. 1425]; Sherbert v. Verner, supra, 374 U.S. at p. 406 [10 L.Ed.2d at pp. 971-972]; Braunfield v. Brown, supra, 366 U.S. at p. 607 [6 L.Ed.2d at pp. 568-569].) (11b) After careful consideration, we perceive no such less restrictive alternative available. It has been suggested, for example, that brainwashing be criminalized. (Lucksted & Martell, Cults: A Conflict Between Religious Liberty and Involuntary Servitude? (June 1982) F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bull. at p. 21.) This approach, which would invoke the coercive power of the state and could result in the jailing of church members, would clearly impose a greater burden on religion than would civil tort liability for fraud. It has also been suggested that the law should authorize involuntary deprogramming of brainwashed individuals by their friends or families. (Aronin, Cults, Deprogramming, and Guardianship: A Model Legislative Proposal (1982) 17 Colum. J.L. & Soc. Probs. 163, 183-216.) But the potentially severe burdens on religion inherent in this approach are evident from our discussion of Katz, supra . Lastly, it has been proposed that proselytizers be required to obtain informed consent prior to attempting to initiate religious conversions. (Delgado, Cults and Conversion: The Case for Informed Consent (1982) 16 Ga. L.Rev. 533, 537-540.) To the extent such an approach would require the active dissemination of specific information about a religion's nature, activities and lifestyle, however, it would also burden religion to a greater extent than would simple passive liability for fraud. In short, it appears that to allow injured parties to bring private actions for fraud is the least restrictive means available for advancing the state's interest in protecting individuals and families from the harmful effects of fraudulent recruitment. (13) Finally, even though the state action is justified by a compelling state interest and imposes the minimum burden required to satisfy that interest, it can be upheld only if it (1) has the purpose and effect of advancing the state's secular goals and (2) does not discriminate between religions, or between religion and nonreligion. ( Braunfield v. Brown, supra, 366 U.S. at p. 607 [6 L.Ed.2d at pp. 568-569].) (11c) We find that judicial sanctioning of traditional tort liability for fraudulent recruitment satisfies these standards. First, its purpose and effect is plainly to advance the legitimate secular goal of protecting persons from being harmed by fraud. Second, it is nondiscriminatory: all organizations, religious or otherwise, may be held liable for damages caused by their fraudulent acts. Were a nonreligious organization  e.g., a group espousing a political or social cause  to deceive a person into unknowingly submitting to coercive persuasion, the same liability would ensue. (14) We conclude that neither the federal nor state Constitution bars Molko and Leal from bringing traditional fraud actions against the Church for allegedly inducing them, by misrepresentation and concealment of its identity, into unknowingly entering an atmosphere in which they were then subjected to coercive persuasion. Because triable issues of fact exist as to (1) whether the forms Molko and Leal signed before going to Boonville put them on notice regarding the Church's identity and (2) whether Molko and Leal were, by means of coercive persuasion, rendered unable to respond independently upon learning they had been deceived, we hold that the Court of Appeal erred in affirming the summary judgment for the Church as to plaintiffs' actions for fraud.