Church and Religious Organization Liability in Georgia

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A church is a landowner, an employer, and an organization that relies on volunteers, and each role brings a different rule into an injury claim. A visitor hurt on the property raises the premises statutes. A person harmed by someone the church hired raises the rules on an employer’s liability. A person harmed by a volunteer meets a federal statute that shields the volunteer but leaves the organization’s own liability where it was. A claim of childhood sexual abuse against an organization has its own statute, with its own proof requirements.

Visitors to Church Property

An owner or occupier who invites others onto the premises for a lawful purpose owes ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe (OCGA 51-3-1). A licensee is owed less. A licensee is a person who “[i]s neither a customer, a servant, nor a trespasser,” “[d]oes not stand in any contractual relation with the owner of the premises,” and “[i]s permitted, expressly or impliedly, to go on the premises merely for his own interests, convenience, or gratification,” and “[t]he owner of the premises is liable to a licensee only for willful or wanton injury” (OCGA 51-3-2).

The difference can decide the case, and slight evidence is enough to put it to the jury. In Cham v. ECI Management Corp., 311 Ga. 170 (2021), a person was shot and killed during an armed robbery in an apartment complex parking lot, and the Supreme Court of Georgia considered whether the trial court erred in charging on the duty owed a licensee “when there was evidence showing that the plaintiffs’ decedent was a guest of a lawful tenant of the landowner.” It answered no and affirmed, noting, in words quoted from an earlier decision, that “[t]here need be only slight evidence supporting the theory of the charge.”

The Church as Employer

A person is liable for torts that a servant commits by the person’s command or in the prosecution and within the scope of the person’s business, whether by negligence or voluntarily (OCGA 51-2-2). Separately, an employer must use ordinary care in selecting employees and must not keep them after learning they are incompetent (OCGA 34-7-20).

Volunteers

The federal Volunteer Protection Act shields a volunteer of a nonprofit organization from liability for harm caused on the organization’s behalf if the volunteer was acting within the scope of the volunteer’s responsibilities, was properly licensed or authorized where that was appropriate or required, and did not cause the harm “by willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed by the volunteer” (42 U.S.C. 14503(a)). A nonprofit organization includes a not-for-profit organization “operated primarily for charitable, civic, educational, religious, welfare, or health purposes,” subject to a condition about hate crimes (42 U.S.C. 14505(4)).

The shield covers the volunteer, not the church: “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the liability of any nonprofit organization or governmental entity with respect to harm caused to any person” (42 U.S.C. 14503(d)).

Childhood Sexual Abuse

For abuse committed on or after July 1, 2015, an action must be commenced by the plaintiff’s 23rd birthday, or within two years after the plaintiff knew or had reason to know of the abuse and that it caused injury, as shown by competent medical or psychological evidence (OCGA 9-3-33.1(b)(2)(A)).

The statute then sets what must be proved against an organization, which it calls an “entity” and defines as “an institution, agency, firm, business, corporation, or other public or private legal entity” (OCGA 9-3-33.1(c)(1)(A)). Where the abuser was a volunteer or employee of an entity that owed the plaintiff a duty of care, or the abuser and the plaintiff were engaged in an activity the entity controlled, damages against the entity in an action filed by age 23 require a finding, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the entity was negligent (OCGA 9-3-33.1(c)(2)). In an action brought instead under the two-year discovery provision, they require findings that the entity was grossly negligent, knew or should have known of the conduct, and failed to take remedial action (OCGA 9-3-33.1(c)(3)).

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the volunteer shield cover a volunteer who drives the church van?
No. The protection does not apply where the harm was caused by the volunteer operating a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other vehicle for which the State requires the operator or owner to have an operator’s license or insurance (42 U.S.C. 14503(a)(4)).

Is someone who receives a stipend still a volunteer under the federal statute?
A volunteer is a person who receives no compensation other than reasonable reimbursement or allowance for expenses, and no other thing of value in lieu of compensation “in excess of $500 per year” (42 U.S.C. 14505(6)).

Does the negligent security law reach church property?
For causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, the article applies to any owner or occupier, a term that reaches a person who owns, leases, occupies, operates, maintains, or manages real property of any kind (OCGA 51-3-50(2)), and it is the only remedy for negligent security against owners or occupiers, with stated exceptions (OCGA 51-3-53(a)).

What must a licensee prove after a crime on the premises?
Among other elements, that the crime was reasonably foreseeable because the owner or occupier had a particularized warning of imminent wrongful conduct by a third person, together with the article’s other requirements for licensees (OCGA 51-3-52).

  • OCGA 51-3-1; OCGA 51-3-2; Cham v. ECI Management Corp., 311 Ga. 170 (2021)
  • OCGA 51-2-2; OCGA 34-7-20
  • 42 U.S.C. 14503(a), (d); 42 U.S.C. 14505(4), (6)
  • OCGA 9-3-33.1(b)(2)(A), (c)(1), (2), (3)
  • OCGA 51-3-50(2); OCGA 51-3-52; OCGA 51-3-53(a)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about liability of churches and religious organizations under Georgia and federal law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Liability depends on who owned and controlled the property, who employed or supervised the person involved, what the organization knew, and the specific facts. A person harmed in connection with a church or religious organization should consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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