## Facts

- David Frank, a 40-year-old adult member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, served as a Sunday school teacher for a ward.
- Frank had a criminal history that included domestic disputes with his ex-wife and violations of related restraining orders.
- Before Frank was placed in the teaching role, the Church did not run a criminal background check and was unaware of Frank’s criminal history.
- Ashley Lindeman, age 15, was a student in Frank’s class.
- Frank and Lindeman began communicating outside of class.
- Frank and Lindeman had sexual intercourse off church property on two occasions.
- Frank later pleaded guilty to a criminal sexual assault charge.
- Lindeman sued the Church’s corporate entity (the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) seeking to hold it responsible for Frank’s conduct under respondeat superior and for negligent hiring and negligent supervision.
- The Church moved for summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether the Church could be held vicariously liable (respondeat superior) for Frank’s sexual abuse of a minor student.
2. Whether the Church could be liable for negligent hiring/selection/retention based on placing Frank in a teaching role without conducting a background check that would have revealed his criminal history.
3. Whether the Church could be liable for negligent supervision for failing to use reasonable care to monitor or control Frank’s access to and interactions with minors.

## Decision

- The court granted summary judgment for the Church on Lindeman’s respondeat superior theory, holding that Frank’s sexual misconduct was outside the scope of his church role.
- The court denied summary judgment for the Church on Lindeman’s negligent hiring and negligent supervision claims, concluding that fact questions remained regarding whether reasonable screening and supervision were required and whether the absence of those measures contributed to the harm.

## Legal Principles

- Under Colorado respondeat superior doctrine, an organization is vicariously liable only for torts committed within the scope of the agent’s assigned role and at least partly for the organization’s purposes; sexual abuse of a minor for personal gratification is outside that scope as a matter of law.
- Negligent hiring/selection/retention may be shown where an organization fails to use reasonable care in placing a person in a position that involves contact with minors, if the organization knew or should have known facts showing the person posed an unreasonable risk of harm.
- Negligent supervision may be shown where an organization has a duty to use reasonable care to supervise or control a person placed in a position of authority over minors, and the organization’s lack of reasonable supervision allows a foreseeable harm to occur.
- On summary judgment, the court resolves legal scope-of-agency questions when the material facts are not genuinely disputed, but it leaves negligence questions for trial when reasonable jurors could differ on duty, breach, foreseeability, and causation in light of the record.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that the Church could not be held vicariously liable for a Sunday school teacher’s off-site sexual abuse of a 15-year-old student because the abuse was outside the scope of any church assignment, but it allowed the negligent hiring and negligent supervision theories to proceed based on evidence that the Church did not conduct a background check that could have revealed the teacher’s criminal history and that a jury could find reasonable screening and oversight were required when placing an adult in a role involving minors.


Lindeman v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 43 F. Supp. 3d 1197 (2014)