• Key point. Churches cannot be liable on the basis of negligent hiring for an incident of child molestation if they conducted a thorough background check on the perpetrator.
• Key point. Violation of a church policy is evidence of negligence.
An Alabama court ruled that a school was not liable for a teacher's acts of child molestation since it conducted a thorough background check before hiring him and did not violate its written policies. A male student at a private high school was molested by a teacher during a school camping trip, and several weeks later when he visited the teacher's home. The student sued the school, claiming that it was responsible for his injuries on the basis of negligent hiring and negligent supervision. The court disagreed. It noted that the school had conducted a thorough background check on the teacher before hiring him. Further, school officials were ...
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