In Calvary Temple Church of Evansville, Inc. v. Kirsch, (IN Sup. Ct., Feb. 11, 2025), the Indiana Supreme Court gave a broad interpretation to a state statute that partially shields non-profit religious organizations from tort liability. As summarized by the court:
For an invitee—one who enters the premises with the church’s actual or implied permission— the church’s twin duties are to warn of hidden dangers of which it has actual knowledge and not to harm the entrant intentionally. Unless the church breaches one of these limited duties, it is not liable for injuries sustained on its premises.
At issue in the case was how broadly to define church "premises." Plaintiff in the case was a church member who was injured while helping construct a storage shed on the five-acre plot of land on which the small church is also located. He sued claiming that the church was negligent in not providing safe equipment and failing to properly supervise him. The court said in part:
Despite the broad meaning of “premises”, Kirsch insists that the term cannot include a church’s entire parcel of land and refers only to the parcel’s specific subpart that is “used primarily for worship services”....
Had the legislature intended “premises” in section 2 to mean only the building where worship services occur or only a subpart of the church’s parcel of land, it could have limited the term’s meaning as it did in adjoining section 34-31-7-3. Section 3 applies to nonprofit religious organizations that offer childcare services for a fee...
“Premises” in section 2, rather, is consistent with general-language dictionaries that define “premises” to include an entire parcel of land....
Section 34-31-7-2 is not without limit.... The “use” requirement is that “the premises as a whole [be] used primarily for worship services”.
[Thanks to Josh Tatum for the lead.]
