January 28, 2014 Utah Supreme Court Case Summaries

MacGregor v. Walker, 2014 UT 2, No. 20120452 (January 28, 2014)

Issue: voluntary assumption of a duty to aid abuse victims.

            In this case, the Supreme Court determines that The Church Of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints did not voluntarily assume a duty to aid abuse victims by setting up a “Help Line” for clergymen who become aware of an abusive situation because 1) regardless of whether the Church voluntarily undertook to render a service to abuse victims by virtue of the Help Line, a clergy member’s failure to use the Help Line does not increase a victim’s risk of harm; and 2) public policy disfavors the imposition of a duty where it would discourage organizations from providing services that may ultimately benefit victims of abuse.  The following statements contain the most relevant language:

            Here, MacGregor argues that the Church Defendants owed her an affirmative duty to act under section 323 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Section 323 provides:

One who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration, to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of the other’s person or things, is subject to liability to the other for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to perform his undertaking, if (a) his failure to exercise such care increases the risk of such harm, or (b) the harm is suffered because of the other’s reliance upon the undertaking.

At ¶ 12.

            Before a duty arises under section 323, a plaintiff must establish not only the existence of a voluntary undertaking, but also that (a) the undertaking increased plaintiff’s risk of harm, or (b) the harm suffered by the plaintiff resulted from plaintiff’s reliance on the undertaking. MacGregor does not claim that she relied on the Help Line. We therefore consider whether the Church’s creation of the Help Line increased her risk of harm.

At ¶ 19.

            MacGregor’s claim does not satisfy subsection (a) because neither the creation of the Help Line nor Walker’s alleged failure to use it increased the risk of harm to MacGregor. In other words, Walker’s alleged negligent performance did not put MacGregor in a worse position than she would have been in had the Church never created the Help Line.

At ¶ 24.