Attorneys William Thorpe and Mitch Fleischmann obtained summary judgment in the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona on behalf of a religious order implicated in claims involving alleged sexual abuse. In securing full judgment on behalf of the Thorpe Shwer client, the trial court ruled in favor of the religious order in dismissing all claims against it, including negligence, vicarious liability, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and endangerment.
In a published opinion, the Arizona Court of Appeals subsequently affirmed the summary judgment granted in favor of Thorpe Shwer’s client. See Doe v. Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Phoenix, et al., 255 Ariz. 483 (App. 2023). Additionally, the appellate court clarified two important principles with respect to negligence-based and vicarious liability claims. First, the appellate court held, as a matter of law, that acts of similar misconduct by other employees cannot constitute notice to the employer of a threat of harm posed by a different, specific employee. Second, the appellate court held, as a matter of law, that a religious entity employer could not be vicariously liable for alleged acts of sexual abuse by one of its employees because such conduct is “committed not for any purpose of his employer, but solely to gratify [his] personal, apparently sexual desires.”