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Conventional policies have long been carried in most parishes to cover the church in case someone slips on ice in the church parking lot. Atlantic Mutual's malpractice clause is typical for a group package. It takes the form of a rider (at $25 extra a year) to protect pastors for as much as $300,000 in damage judgments and, more important, for unlimited legal expenses arising out of the performance of professional services for others in the insured's capacity as a pastoral counselor." The fees are far lower than medical malpractice premiums because the statistical risk is far smaller.
Although thousands of churches are now covered, some insurance companies have tried to avoid publicity on the new policies, fearing knowledge of their existence will only invite more lawsuits. "Buying insurance is buying trouble," admits Lynn Buzzard, executive director of the Christian Legal Society, an organization of about 3,000 evangelical lawyers. It should never be the job of secular courts, he says, to decide between "good and bad pastoral counseling." There are other grievances, of course. Says a South Carolina lawyer reflecting on the constitutionality of suits against clergy: "Malpractice insurance sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I know a preacher who married me whom I'd love to sue." ∎