Child Killed in Church Parking Lot

Key Point 7-20.2. A variety of defenses are available to a church that is sued as a result of an injury occurring on its premises.

A Washington court ruled that a church was not legally responsible for the death of a three-year-old child who was run over and killed by a vehicle that was pulling into a church parking lot. A church had a small parking lot with one row of angled parking spaces separated from the church building by a driveway. On the day of the accident, a mother was dropping her young children off at vacation bible school. She pulled into one of the angled parking spaces. She let her older children get out first and then helped her three-year old son (the "victim") out of his car seat and onto the asphalt parking lot next to the driver side of her vehicle.

At the same time, a van driven by another woman entered the parking lot and came to a screeching halt to let the victim's ...