Churches might want to be more careful about protecting swooning parishioners after the Michigan Court of Appeals said a church was liable for the fall of a woman who was “slain in the spirit” during an altar call.

A jury had awarded Judith Dadd $40,000 in damages for the head injury she suffered in the fall at Mount Hope Church in Lansing and the appeals court affirmed the award in a first-of-its-kind decision last week, stressing the uniqueness of her negligence case.

“[W]e generally agree with defendants that they had no legal duty to insure that they would  protect from injury all congregants who participated in the church service,” the per curiam opinion said, but

we conclude the very narrow and unique circumstances that exist in the present case support the imposition of a legal duty imposed on defendants to assist plaintiff while she participated in this altar call.

The court noted that the church's pastor “made it clear to the congregants that ushers were trained to catch persons who fall during an altar call” and that, according to Dadd's testimony, an usher “specifically solicited her participation in the altar call” and “directed her to a specific place before the altar where a specific minister would pray over her.”

“A person in plaintiff’s position could reasonably conclude that the usher who positioned her for this altar call would also guard her through the process,” the court said.

The opinion was not published, but it certainly puts churches on notice that if they regularly provide ushers at altar calls, they have a duty to protect congregants who are being prayed over from injury.

In a similar case, a parishioner sued a Knoxville, Tenn., church last year for allowing him to fall to the ground during an altar call even though the minister had “asked the catchers to be ready and stated that he didn't want anyone to fall and get hurt and sue him.” Another suit in Oakland, Calif., alleges a woman fell and injured her head after her pastor “laid hands” on her by striking her forehead with the palm of his hand.

Dadd was injured during a leadership rally at Mount Hope, a "megachurch" with more than 4,000 members, in July 2002. While an assistant minister prayed over her, she was “slain in the spirit,” fell backward and –- with no usher there to catch her –- struck her head on the floor.

As part of her case, she introduced a recording of one of Pastor Dave Williams’ sermons in which, while discussing whether congregants should respond to an altar call, he said that “others are against it because they’re afraid of getting hurt. That’s why we train our ushers to catch people if this happens.”

The church argued that “requiring the presence of an usher for every person who attends a church service places a huge burden on churches and removes all responsibility from a person attending a church service to be careful.” But the appeals court did not consider that argument because the church did not present it at trial.

Asked whether she checked to see if an usher was behind her before she fell, Dadd testified:

As I go before whoever is praying for me, they’re facing the congregation in the sanctuary. I’m facing the altar, the front. They are the ones that determine when to start praying for you. It’s up to them.

The jury awarded another $273,750 on claims alleging Williams damaged Dadd's reputation by suggesting in statements to parishioners that she faked her injury. The appeals court reversed that portion of the judgment because the trial judge failed to instruct the jury that the statements were entitled to a qualified privilege.

By Matthew Heller
4/12/09