Court Opinion

ID: 9497737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:58:44.314328+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:23.133721
License: Public Domain

BEA, Circuit Judge,
with whom KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge, joins,
dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc:
I heartily agree with Judge Trott that given the Ellerth/Faragher1 affirmative defense, ... every step the Church took to respond and react to Elvig’s claims will be reviewed by the district court to determine where it was reasonable.” Elvig v. Calvin Presbyterian Church, 375 F.3d 951, 973 (9th Cir.2004). From a practical point of view, such an inquiry would necessitate the court’s adjudication of discovery issues, presentation of evidence, instructions to the jury, etc.
This “review” might involve the following questions:

Discovery

(1) Are Elvig’s demands for production of records in previous claims of sexual harassment involving Pastor Ackles or other ministers “reasonable” in view of what may be the Church’s doctrinal views that the damage of potential scandal to the community outweighs the benefit such records would have to the individual, Elvig? Was the Church’s resolution of Elvig’s demands reasonable?

Composition of the Investigating Committee

(2) Is an Investigating Committee made up of three women and two men “reasonable” when claims are made of sexual harassment to a female?
(3) If the men on the Committee were in a relatively higher position within the Church hierarchy to that of the women, is it “reasonable” to believe that *808each member -of the Committee would exercise independent judgment?

Instruction to the Jury

(4) Would the Investigating Committee’s determination of whether the acts of Pastor Ackles constituted sexual harassment based on a “reasonable pastor” standard be “reasonable” in view of the civil legal system’s rule that the proper standard for that determination is that of a “reasonable woman”? See, e.g., Ellison v. Brady, 924 F.2d 872, 878-79 (9th Cir.1991) (holding that in the context of sexual harassment, objective hostility is evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable woman).
... and on and on. Challenges to the “reasonableness” of the Church’s process and decision would be limited only by what limits there are to the ingenuity of counsel and the special pleading of activist organizations urging them on.
This review of what is reasonable would require consideration of what a reasonable employer would have done and would do to prevent the harassment under same or similar circumstances. Would such a review involve evidence of what processes are provided by other similarly situated employers? What evidence would be considered?
Should the jury hear the practices of employers of other Presbyterian ministers? Or should Episcopalian, Methodist and Unitarian practices be considered?
Should the jury consider the Catholic practices for Parish priests, or should practices for specific orders such as Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinians, Dominicans2 and Opus Dei also be considered?
In keeping with the secular instruction of the panel opinion, should non-ecclesiastic practices of secular moralist organizations be considered?
With these thoughts in mind, the excellent historical and jurisprudential development contained in Judge Trott’s dissent commends itself to me.

Ellerth/Faragher Burden-Shifting

Ironically, because petitioner brings a claim under Title VII with its court-created affirmative defense and attendant burden-shifting, petitioner’s claim here may well be barred. If plaintiff were to proceed solely on common-law claims, the result might be otherwise.
Under the law of the State of Washington, there is no employer liability for intentional acts of sexual harassment of a victim-employee by another employee, since sexual harassment is deemed to be outside the course and scope of the employee’s duties to his principal. See Robel v. Roundup Corp., 148 Wash.2d 35, 59 P.3d 611, 621, n. 9 (2002).
However, were the acts of sexual harassment by the employee done at the direction of the employer, perhaps for the purpose of driving the victim from the workplace, the intentional act of the employee-agent would be authorized, or perhaps ratified by the employer-principal if the unauthorized harasser were kept in employment, after the employer knew of the employee’s harassing. Such proof would invoke well-settled principles of vicarious liability. See Restatement (Second) Agency, § 219 (authorized action); §§ 86, 89 (ratification).
Elvig retains her common law action against Pastor Ackles for intentional infliction of emotional distress as a result of the alleged sexual harassment, and against the Church if there is evidence of authorization or ratification.
*809However, if Elvig wishes to proceed under Title VII without proof of authorization or ratification, but on what the Church “should have known” and “should have done” to prevent sexual harassment, she must submit herself to the affirmative defense in Ellerth/Faragher.
That is because Title VII creates a new duty upon the employer (here, the Church): an affirmative duty to prevent intentional sexual harassment by a fellow employee, if it amounts to discrimination in the workplace, regardless the lack of evidence of authorization or ratification. However, with the imposition of the additional duty upon employers comes the El-lerth/Faragher affirmative defense. For the reasons earlier stated, determining what is a “reasonable employer” in-house process to prevent such discrimination ineluctably requires secular bodies to pass judgment on whether ecclesiastical entities are “reasonable” by standards of secular authorities.3

Application of Bollard

I disagree with Judge Trott, however, that Bollard v. Cal. Province of the Soc’y of Jesus, 196 F.3d 940 (9th Cir.1999), can be distinguished on the grounds the petitioner in that case was a , novitiate, not a full member, unless the vows Elvig took are to be given the same weight as an agreement to arbitrate outside the federal courts. Elvig, 375 F.3d at 957. I’m afraid that, to me, this is a thin reed. Agreements to arbitrate are always vulnerable to attack in civil courts for being substantively or procedurally unconscionable. See, e.g., Armendariz v. Found. Health Psychcare Servs., Inc., 24 Cal.4th 83, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 745, 6 P.3d 669, 690 (2000); Schroeder v. Fageol Motors, Inc., 86 Wash.2d 256, 544 P.2d 20, 23 (1975). The arbitration decision is always vulnerable to attack in civil courts account the arbitrator’s corruption. See 9 U.S.C. § 10; Cal. Civ.Code § 1286.2. If one is to separate Church and State, it cannot be on the ground that vows to abide by Church governance are tantamount to an agreement for alternative dispute resolution, for that resolution will always be vulnerable to attack in the civil courts, although perhaps not on the grounds the process and decision were “unreasonable.” That Mr. Bollard had not engaged in an internal-to-the-Church resolution process is also not a *810ground for distinguishing his case. If he had, the same questions would arise which Elvig seeks to raise here, and which the Church could defend under Ellerth/ Far-agher.
Even if Bollard is not distinguishable, it is wrongly decided, and it is time to revisit this important constitutional issue. For these reasons, and those aptly stated by Judge Kleinfeld with whose dissent I join, I respectfully dissent from our court’s order denying rehearing en banc.

. Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 751-52, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998) and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 807-08, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998).

. If memory serves, these were the original Inquisitors of the Holy Office.

. In his concurrence in the order denying rehearing en banc, Judge W. Fletcher quotes Bollard for the proposition that “Nothing in the character of this [Ellerth ] defense will require a jury to evaluate religious doctrine or the 'reasonableness* of the religious practices followed within the Jesuit order. Instead, the jury must make secular judgments about the nature and severity of the harassment and what measures, if any, were taken by the Jesuits to prevent or correct it." See Elvig v. Calvin Presbyterian Church, No. 02-35805, op. at 793 (W. Fletcher, J., concurring in order denying reh'g en banc); see also Elvig, 375 F.3d at 963 (“[t]he reasonableness component of the Ellerth/Faragher affirmative defense evaluates an employer’s actions in responding to sexual harassment rather than the motivations for that response.” (emphasis in original)). In my view, this distinction is untenable. A jury’s adjudication of the "reasonableness” of a religious institution’s actions in response to a complaint of sexual harassment inevitably requires the jury to adjudicate the “reasonableness” of the religious doctrine that informs the measures taken by the religious institution. The religious institution's actions — or lack thereof — may be compelled by religious doctrine. For instance, a church may have an Employment Complaint Board where claims of sexual harassment can be reported, and dealt with, before they become so serious or frequent as to create a “hostile work environment.” The Board may be composed, according to church hierarchical doctrine, of Bishops who are all male. Under the Panel Majority's Opinion, whether the composition of the panel were "reasonable” to prevent sexual harassment of female employees would be an issue which the secular trier of fact would decide.