Case Title: MICHELLE AUCOIN, ET AL v. STATE OF LOUISIANA THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF RANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT  (dissenting)

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Docket Number: 

State: louisiana

Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Date: 1998-04-24T00:00:00Z

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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA NO. 97-C-1938 consolidated with NO. 97-C-1967 MICHELLE AUCOIN ET AL. V. STATE OF LOUISIANA THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE MARCUS, Justice, dissenting. I dissent from the majority’s holding that the condition of Greenwell Springs Road at the site of Aucoin’s accident created an unreasonably dangerous condition to the motoring public. Despite its purported reaffirmation of the holding in Myers v. State farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 493 So. 2d 1170 (La. 1986), the majority nevertheless seems to impose liability on DOTD for its failure to bring an old highway up to current standards. I disagree and would not hold DOTD liable for plaintiffs’ injuries under the circumstances of this case. Being of this opinion, it is not necessary for me to reach the issue of the reduction of medical damages. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to express my disagreement with the majority’s holding that the contributory negligence of a tortfeasor, who is also the parent of a minor victim, does not reduce the damages for medical expenses which may be recovered by the minor. La. Civ. Code art. 227 imposes on parents a duty to support, maintain, and educate their children. Encompassed within this duty to support and maintain, is a parent’s legal responsibility to pay for medical expenses incurred by his or her minor child. This obligation garners support from the fact that an unemancipated minor does not have the legal capacity to contract. La. Civ. Code art. 1918. Consequently, when a child incurs medical expenses, the parent is the liable party and thus the proper party to recover in a suit for such damages. Under circumstances in which the parent is also a tortfeasor, La. Civ. Code art. 2323 necessarily reduces the amount of medical expenses which the parent may recover by the percentage of that parent’s negligence. This reduction takes place regardless of whether a parent has instituted suit in her own name or as the tutrix of her minor child. Contrary to the opinion of the majority, the procedural posture assumed by a parent does not alter the fact that the primary right of action for medical expenses incurred by an unemancipated minor is vested in the parent, the party liable for those expenses. Hence, even in cases where the parent has filed suit on behalf of the minor child, the child is entitled to recover no more than his parent would have been entitled to recover if separate suits had been brought. In the instant case, Aucoin (as a parent) was and continues to be liable for medical expenses incurred by her minor child. Thus, Aucoin is the proper party to recover any award for such damages. Because Aucoin was found to be 85% at fault in causing her child’s injuries, however, La. Civ. Code art. 2323 requires a concomitant reduction in the amount of damages that can be recovered for medical expenses arising out of those injuries.