Strictly Legal: Back against the wall, the court makes a great play

Thomas Jefferson famously described a “wall of separation” between church and state. Courts still give this wall a wide berth.

The Supreme Court of Iowa recently ruled on a case where a plaintiff asked them to break through that wall, or at least reach over it. Ryan Koster filed suit against the Harvest Bible Chapel (HBC) and three of its pastors, claiming breach of fiduciary duty, invasion of privacy, and defamation, among other claims. The court ultimately found for the church, granting their motion for summary judgment.

Koster was a former member of HBC, and met his wife in the congregation. He and his wife were involved in a number of “community counseling” groups through the church, where congregation members would get together to study scripture and talk through any problems they might be having in their marriage and family. Pastor Garth Glenn was present in many of the groups with Koster and his wife.

In April of 2015, Koster’s wife called Pastor Glenn. She told him that her three-year-old daughter had come to her and told her that Koster had touched her under her underwear. Koster’s wife also sought a temporary protective order against Koster, which was granted, and the DHS and the police investigated.

Glenn sent an email on April 29th to the other pastors and the directors at HBC. The email mentioned that Koster and his wife had been a part of corrective counseling through HBC for the past few years, and that “[u]nfortunately, events transpired yesterday that initiated the necessity of police and DHS involvement,” before going on to explain that Koster’s wife and kids were safe, but that things were “just now coming to a head.”

Four days later, Glenn sent out a lengthier email to the members of the HBC groups that the Kosters were a part of. The email referenced the allegations against Koster, his denials, the protective order, and that Koster had been working through some difficulties in the HBC groups. Glenn sent a similar email to the HBC staff.

From its investigation, the DHS concluded that the sexual abuse allegations were not founded. The investigation was reopened twice more, and each time, the DHS concluded that the allegations were unfounded.

Two years later, Koster brought this suit. He argued that the church and pastors owed him a fiduciary duty, and that they had breached that duty by discussing the allegations with the HBC staff and congregation. He also argued that Glenn’s emails implicitly or expressly stated that Koster had abused his children, and because those statements were false, they were defamatory.

The court found that any fiduciary duty would be too closely connected to HBC’s religious teachings and practices, and therefore the court should not touch it. How a church chooses to “counsel and advise its congregation is outside the purview of government,” under the First Amendment. Any fiduciary duties of confidentiality Pastor Glenn owed to Koster could not be isolated from the church environment and practices, and the Iowa court did not want to get into the business of analyzing religious duties.

Somewhat similarly, the court also denied Koster’s defamation claim, finding that a qualified privilege applies. If Glenn’s emails were only sent to members of the congregation, concerning the conduct of other members in the congregation, his statements would be protected by qualified privilege. The court found that even though the emails were sent to one person who was not an active member of the congregation, that person was so closely connected to the congregation and its common interest that the qualified privilege exception still applied.

Presented with a thorny question with religious overtones, the Iowa court decided to stay firmly on one side of Jefferson’s wall. Rather than engage in an analysis of duties owed within a congregation, or communications between congregants, the court drew a hard line, and probably for the better.

Jack Greiner is managing partner of Graydon law firm in Cincinnati. He represents Enquirer Media in First Amendment and media issues; He can be reached at jgreiner@graydon.law.