Opinion ID: 1779062
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Malicki v. Doe

Text: ś 60. Finally, with respect to our Free Exercise Clause analysis, we review the Florida Supreme Court's recent decision of Malicki v. Doe, 814 So.2d 347 (Fla.2002), which involved a suit against the Archdiocese of Miami for negligent hiring and supervision of a priest accused of sexually molesting both a minor and adult parishioner. We find the Florida court's analysis compelling: [14] In this case, the Church Defendants do not claim that the underlying acts of its priest in committing sexual assault and battery was governed by sincerely held religious beliefs or practices. Nor do they claim that the reason they failed to exercise control over Malicki was because of sincerely held religious beliefs or practices. Therefore, it appears that the Free Exercise Clause is not implicated in this case because the conduct sought to be regulated; that is, the Church Defendants' alleged negligence in hiring and supervision is not rooted in religious belief. Moreover, even assuming an incidental effect of burdening a particular religious practice, the parishioners' cause of action for negligent hiring and supervision is not barred because it is based on neutral application of principles of tort law. Through neutral application of principles of tort law, we thus give no greater or lesser deference to tortuous conduct committed on third parties by religious organizations than we do to tortuous conduct committed on third parties by non-religious entities. For example, Florida courts, as well as courts in other jurisdictions, have applied neutral principles of tort law to religious institutions in premises liability cases. Id. at 360-61 (footnotes & citation omitted).