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[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]By Jessica M. Walker
[/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif] Montgomery Advertiser [/font]
[/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif] Montgomery Advertiser [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]A jury on Wednesday awarded $2 million to a man who sued his former pastor for having sex with his wife while the couple were receiving marriage counseling from the church leader.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Jim Faulkner sued former Dalraida Church of Christ pastor Floyd Bailey after discovering the sexual relationship between Bailey and his wife, Paris Faulk-[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]ner, in 2000. At the time, Paris Faulkner was Bailey's secretary, and the couple had gone to him for marital advice.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Faulkner claimed Bailey used his position as a pastor and marriage counselor to bring an end to the couple's marriage. The couple got divorced after Jim Faulkner found out about the four-month affair.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Jim Faulkner had asked for $1.8 million in punitive damages and $82,000 for lost wages and attorneys fees. On Wednesday he was awarded $2 million in punitive damages and $67,000 in compensatory damages.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Punitive damages are an amount assigned by juries to punish the wrongdoer in civil cases. Compensatory damages are actual monetary losses experienced by a plaintiff.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey's defense was that he was acting as a minister, not a counselor, when he advised the Faulkners. Ministers cannot be sued for negligence or malpractice under Alabama law, unless they take on the role of a counselor.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Faulkner's attorney, Frank Hawthorne, said the verdict would be a warning to other pastors thinking of straying from their duties.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"This is a serious problem that needs to be corrected in the counseling community," Hawthorne said after the jury announced its decision.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]After the verdict Jim Faulkner said little except that he wanted to put the affair and its aftermath behind him.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"I'm just glad it's over. I'm glad the jury saw the truth," he said.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey's attorneys also had little to say after the jury announced its decision.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"We don't agree with the verdict. We're going to digest it and in a couple of weeks we'll see what we'll do," said Danny Walters, Bailey's attorney.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey, who left the courthouse hours before the jury returned the verdict, could not be reached for comment.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Dr. Kline Johnson, director of Baptist Family Resource and Counseling Center, which is affiliated with the Montgomery Baptist Association, said verdicts such as the one against Bailey could affect ministers' willingness to give advice to their church members.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"It definitely could have an effect. But many ministers are already limiting their counseling role due to the amount of time it takes and the skills it takes, and therefore are referring to licensed professional counselors," Johnson said.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Johnson said that a physical relationship between a counselor and a client of any kind was against "any code of ethics that I know."[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Johnson said that while ministerial counseling is legal in Alabama without a license, many pastors are referring their parishioners to licensed professionals to be on the safe side.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Jim Faulkner's attorneys had argued that Bailey was acting as a counselor when he advised the Faulkners and had the affair.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]On Wednesday, the jury heard from Paris Faulkner, who testified that she didn't consider her talks with Bailey about their marriage as counseling.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"It was just like my sister was talking to me about what's going on," she said of her talks about her marriage with Bailey.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]However, in a deposition during the Faulkners' divorce case, Paris Faulkner had termed her talks with Bailey as counseling on at least three occasions.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Paris Faulkner said during her testimony that she was "vulnerable" at the time of the affair because her marriage was falling apart.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"I have to admit it was consensual. But I feel like he took advantage of me and came after me," Paris Faulkner testified.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]The abuse of the counseling relationship was at the crux of Jim Faulkner's case.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"This case is about the manipulation of this man's family by the deceitful use of marital counseling," Faulkner's attorney, Randy Myers, said during his closing argument.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey testified that he begged Jim Faulkner not to take a job in Baldwin County because Paris Faulkner didn't want to go. Bailey said that he thought if Paris Faulkner were upset with her husband and tried to divorce him over the move, the secret affair would come tumbling out.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Part of the compensatory damages Jim Faulkner had asked for were $52,000 in lost wages for the job he did not take at Bailey's advice. During the defense's closing arguments, Walters used the Bible to defend his client, recalling the story of the adulteress about to be stoned by a crowd.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]According to the story, Jesus approached the crowd, and said that he who was without sin should cast the first stone.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"This man's already been punished. Ever since he was 8 years old he wanted to be a Church of Christ minister and he's thrown all that away," Walters said. [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"We'll see" was Hawthorne's response when asked how he'll collect on the award. Bailey's insurance policy limit for civil liability was $1 million. [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Jim Faulkner sued former Dalraida Church of Christ pastor Floyd Bailey after discovering the sexual relationship between Bailey and his wife, Paris Faulk-[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]ner, in 2000. At the time, Paris Faulkner was Bailey's secretary, and the couple had gone to him for marital advice.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Faulkner claimed Bailey used his position as a pastor and marriage counselor to bring an end to the couple's marriage. The couple got divorced after Jim Faulkner found out about the four-month affair.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Jim Faulkner had asked for $1.8 million in punitive damages and $82,000 for lost wages and attorneys fees. On Wednesday he was awarded $2 million in punitive damages and $67,000 in compensatory damages.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Punitive damages are an amount assigned by juries to punish the wrongdoer in civil cases. Compensatory damages are actual monetary losses experienced by a plaintiff.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey's defense was that he was acting as a minister, not a counselor, when he advised the Faulkners. Ministers cannot be sued for negligence or malpractice under Alabama law, unless they take on the role of a counselor.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Faulkner's attorney, Frank Hawthorne, said the verdict would be a warning to other pastors thinking of straying from their duties.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"This is a serious problem that needs to be corrected in the counseling community," Hawthorne said after the jury announced its decision.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]After the verdict Jim Faulkner said little except that he wanted to put the affair and its aftermath behind him.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"I'm just glad it's over. I'm glad the jury saw the truth," he said.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey's attorneys also had little to say after the jury announced its decision.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"We don't agree with the verdict. We're going to digest it and in a couple of weeks we'll see what we'll do," said Danny Walters, Bailey's attorney.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey, who left the courthouse hours before the jury returned the verdict, could not be reached for comment.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Dr. Kline Johnson, director of Baptist Family Resource and Counseling Center, which is affiliated with the Montgomery Baptist Association, said verdicts such as the one against Bailey could affect ministers' willingness to give advice to their church members.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"It definitely could have an effect. But many ministers are already limiting their counseling role due to the amount of time it takes and the skills it takes, and therefore are referring to licensed professional counselors," Johnson said.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Johnson said that a physical relationship between a counselor and a client of any kind was against "any code of ethics that I know."[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Johnson said that while ministerial counseling is legal in Alabama without a license, many pastors are referring their parishioners to licensed professionals to be on the safe side.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Jim Faulkner's attorneys had argued that Bailey was acting as a counselor when he advised the Faulkners and had the affair.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]On Wednesday, the jury heard from Paris Faulkner, who testified that she didn't consider her talks with Bailey about their marriage as counseling.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"It was just like my sister was talking to me about what's going on," she said of her talks about her marriage with Bailey.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]However, in a deposition during the Faulkners' divorce case, Paris Faulkner had termed her talks with Bailey as counseling on at least three occasions.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Paris Faulkner said during her testimony that she was "vulnerable" at the time of the affair because her marriage was falling apart.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"I have to admit it was consensual. But I feel like he took advantage of me and came after me," Paris Faulkner testified.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]The abuse of the counseling relationship was at the crux of Jim Faulkner's case.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"This case is about the manipulation of this man's family by the deceitful use of marital counseling," Faulkner's attorney, Randy Myers, said during his closing argument.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Bailey testified that he begged Jim Faulkner not to take a job in Baldwin County because Paris Faulkner didn't want to go. Bailey said that he thought if Paris Faulkner were upset with her husband and tried to divorce him over the move, the secret affair would come tumbling out.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]Part of the compensatory damages Jim Faulkner had asked for were $52,000 in lost wages for the job he did not take at Bailey's advice. During the defense's closing arguments, Walters used the Bible to defend his client, recalling the story of the adulteress about to be stoned by a crowd.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]According to the story, Jesus approached the crowd, and said that he who was without sin should cast the first stone.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"This man's already been punished. Ever since he was 8 years old he wanted to be a Church of Christ minister and he's thrown all that away," Walters said. [/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif]"We'll see" was Hawthorne's response when asked how he'll collect on the award. Bailey's insurance policy limit for civil liability was $1 million. [/font]
