An Atlanta jury on March 21 awarded $1 million in damages to a litigant who charged a New Life Clinic with putting him "through hell."
Scott Rogers sued the Atlanta clinic and one of its workers for slander, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress after undergoing a two-month investigation for allegedly sexually abusing his son.
Rogers says he called New Life, the nation's largest Christian psychiatric company, after hearing a representative of the organization on a radio program talking about abuse. Rogers, 27, says he sought healing from abuse as a child (CT, Sept. 16, 1996, p. 76).
But Melodie Ricks, who took his call, says Rogers suggested he had sexually abused his three-year-old son. She reported him to Georgia Child Protective Services.
Rogers says he never abused his son, and he never gave Ricks such information. According to Rogers, Ricks threatened to report him for abuse after he expressed reluctance to submit to in-patient counseling.
"The jury believed there was no reasonable basis for the report, and that it was not made in good faith," says Rogers's lawyer, Michael Bertling.
New Life (formerly Minirth-Meier New Life) is sticking by Ricks. "The company acted not only in accordance with the laws of this country, but also in accordance with their Christian obligation to protect a child," says spokesperson Connie McCoy. "New Life believes it is better to err on the side of a child than protect a confessed or potential abuser."
McCoy says New Life is filing a motion for a new trial, but also discussing a settlement.
Bertling says, "They need to take a good, hard look at their intake procedures and their marketing procedure."
Copyright © 1997 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.
Our digital archives are a work in progress. Let us know if corrections need to be made.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
More from this Issue
Read These Next
- TrendingAmerican Christians Should Stand with Israel under AttackWhile we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
- From the MagazineWhat Kind of Man Is This?We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.españolFrançais
- Editor's PickBiblical Literacy in a Postliterate AgeWe must always be people of the Word, but we’ll have to reimagine deep engagement with Scripture.