Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina

If I am working on a church prayerline and a caller calls and says he is going to commit suicide and

I cannot connect myself to the police or some other supervision to call so that they can trace the call and get the location of the caller as well as keeping him on the phone until he can be

reached and given some help, and he does take his life, can I be sucessfuly sued by his family

or can they go after the church only or both? should I get a statement from the Pastor of the church

saying he will take full responsibility and not myself if this should happen?

Thank you very much .


Asked on 11/30/09, 1:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Kirby Law Offices of John M. Kirby

Neither you nor the church should be liable in this situation, but this can raise very complicated legal issues. Also, on the facts presented, neither you nor the church would actually be negligent (because you are not able to contact the police). It is always wise, however, for the church to have liability insurance, and there is one or more insurers which specifically write policies for churches. You can also get a statement from the church stating that they will indemnify you, which is a good idea (especially if they have insurance or funds to cover you).

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Answered on 12/05/09, 2:34 pm


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