Opinion ID: 555084
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The First Amendment and the Avoidable Consequences Doctrine.

Text: 26 In an effort to avoid liability for Mrs. Munn's death, Algee argued that Mrs. Munn's refusal to accept blood transfusions was unreasonable and thus that the doctrine of avoidable consequences 9 precluded any recovery. Munn now asserts that application of this doctrine violated the first amendment's free exercise and establishment clauses, arguing that the rule burdened his wife's exercise of the Jehovah's Witnesses faith and invited the jury to consider the reasonableness of that religion. 27 Munn cites a published article to support his argument that application of this doctrine violates the first amendment. See Comment, Medical Care, Freedom of Religion, and Mitigation of Damages, 87 Yale L.J. 1466 (1978). The comment writer accurately identifies two judicial approaches to religiously motivated refusals to mitigate tort damages. Id. at 1467. The first, labelled the objective approach, holds that religion may not justify an otherwise unreasonable failure to mitigate. The second, termed the case-by-case approach, attempts to accommodate religious beliefs by allowing the jury to consider the plaintiff's religious beliefs in determining whether his or her failure to mitigate was reasonable. 28 The author concludes that the objective approach violates the free exercise clause, while the case-by-case approach violates the establishment clause. In the instant case, the court applied the case-by-case approach, attempting to accommodate Mrs. Munn's religious beliefs. 10 29 Without identifying the court's approach, Munn argues that its application of the avoidable consequences doctrine violated both first amendment clauses. He accordingly desires, as did the comment author, see id. at 1468, 1486-87, that we recognize a special exemption from the doctrine's application for religiously motivated failures to mitigate damages. We decline to do so, as we conclude that proper application of the avoidable consequences doctrine does not violate the first amendment. 30
31 Munn contends that applying the mitigation of damages principle to this case violates the first amendment because it incidentally affects Mrs. Munn's exercise of her religion. This argument is foreclosed by Supreme Court cases holding that generally applicable rules imposing incidental burdens on particular religions do not violate the free exercise clause. See McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 6 L.Ed.2d 393 (1961) (Sunday closing laws do not violate free exercise rights of Saturday sabbatarians); Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599, 81 S.Ct. 1144, 6 L.Ed.2d 563 (1961) (same); see also Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources v. Smith, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1595, 108 L.Ed.2d 876 (1990) (free exercise clause does not prohibit application of Oregon drug laws to ceremonial ingestion of peyote). Accordingly, we hold that the application of the mitigation of damages doctrine, under either of the two approaches, does not violate the free exercise clause of the first amendment. Accord Corlett v. Caserta, 204 Ill.App.3d 403, 149 Ill.Dec. 793, 562 N.E.2d 257 (1st Dist.1990) (involving Jehovah's Witness). 32
33 The more compelling problem with the application of the doctrine in this case is that it potentially invited the jury to judge the reasonableness of the Jehovah's Witnesses' religion. See Hernandez v. Commissioner, 490 U.S. 680, 109 S.Ct. 2136, 2146, 104 L.Ed.2d 766 (1989); United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78, 87, 64 S.Ct. 882, 886, 88 L.Ed. 1148 (1944). We conclude that in an appropriate case, application of the case-by-case approach to religiously motivated refusals to mitigate damages can involve weighing the reasonableness of religious beliefs and thus arguably would violate the establishment clause. However, because here the court's application of this approach was designed to assist Munn in circumventing the avoidable consequences doctrine, we need not address squarely the constitutionality of the case-by-case approach, for in any event Munn is entitled to no relief. 34 Application of the case-by-case approach allows a jury to consider the religious nature of a plaintiff's refusal to avoid the consequences of a defendant's negligence. Accordingly, otherwise unreasonable conduct may be deemed reasonable. However, the question of whether a jury decides to label such conduct as reasonable may depend upon its view of the religious tenet that motivated the plaintiff's failure to mitigate damages. See Comment, supra, at 1484. 35 If the jury finds the religion plausible, it will more likely deem the conduct reasonable; on the other hand, if the particular faith strikes the jury as strange or bizarre, the jury will probably conclude that the plaintiff's failure to mitigate was unreasonable. Because the plaintiff's religion is the only basis upon which otherwise unreasonable conduct can be deemed reasonable, the jury undoubtedly assesses the plaintiff's religion in reaching its conclusion. A strong case can be made that the first amendment forbids such an assessment. 36 However, simply because the case-by-case approach might involve impermissible assessment of a religion's reasonableness does not mean that Munn is entitled to a new trial. Munn himself interjected religion into the case, seeking to explain his wife's conduct. Had he been prohibited from doing so, the jury undoubtedly would have deemed her decision unreasonable. 11 In short, the jury's assessment of Elaine Munn's religion did not harm Munn's case. Consequently, we find the court's application of the case-by-case approach to be, at most, harmless error. 12 37