Title: Davis v. DuBosch

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

583 P.2d 1133 (1978)
William C. DAVIS, Personal Representative of the Estate of William J. Davis, Deceased, Appellant,
v.
Richard DuBosch and Lois D. DuBosch, Respondents.
No. A 77 07 09631; SC 25504.

Supreme Court of Oregon, Department 1.
Argued and Submitted July 13, 1978.
Decided September 12, 1978.
*1134 Terry G. Hannon, of Pattullo, Gleason, Scarborough, Trammell & Hannon, Portland, argued the cause and filed a brief for appellant.
Ridgway K. Foley, Jr., Portland, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were James F. Spiekerman, and Souther, Spaulding, Kinsey, Williamson & Schwabe, Portland.
Before HOLMAN, P.J., and HOWELL, LENT, and LINDE, JJ.
HOWELL, Justice.
Plaintiff, personal representative of his son's estate, filed this action to recover damages for wrongful death. The defendants are the parents of a minor son who allegedly caused the automobile accident resulting in the death of plaintiff's son. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the complaint on the grounds the complaint failed to state a cause of action. Plaintiff refused to plead over and appeals from the judgment entered for defendant. We affirm.
The plaintiff's complaint alleged in pertinent part:
At common law a parent is not liable for the torts of the child unless the parent directed or ratified the act, took the benefit of it, or the child acted as a servant of the parent. Herndobler v. Rippen, 75 Or. 22, 146 P. 140 (1915); Harper & James, The Law of Torts 660, § 8.13.
Plaintiff states that he does not rely on negligent entrustment, the family purpose doctrine, parental responsibility for a child's wilful torts, or respondeat superior. "The theory of plaintiff's case is that the defendants, as parents, failed to exercise that care expected of a reasonable parent to attempt to prevent their child from creating an unreasonable risk of harm to the public."
Plaintiff has not cited any cases discussing the liability of a parent for failure to control a minor child who drinks and then negligently injures another with his automobile.[1]
Plaintiff relies on 2 Restatement (Second) 123-24, Torts § 316 (1965), which states:
It is not necessary in this case for us to consider a re-examination of the common law general rule that a parent is not liable for the negligent acts of a minor child, because we do not believe that the plaintiff's complaint alleges a cause of action.
The complaint alleged the defendants failed (1) to prevent their son from negligently harming another; (2) to prevent the child from creating an unreasonable risk of harm to third persons; (3) to adopt measures to control use of the automobile after drinking; and (4) to control the drinking. The complaint does not allege the defendants had knowledge of their ability to control their child and does not allege the defendants had knowledge of the necessity and the opportunity for exercising such control. The defendants' duty, under the Restatement, is only to exercise such ability to control as he has at the time when he has the opportunity to exercise it and knows of the necessity of so doing. 2 Restatement (Second), supra, comment b. As the complaint fails to allege facts bringing it within the rule of § 316 of the Restatement, the demurrer was properly sustained.[2]
Affirmed.
[1]  Plaintiff cites decisions relating to intentional torts committed by a minor child, e.g., Hoverson v. Noker, 60 Wis. 511, 19 N.W. 382 (1885) (children shooting to frighten horse), and cases involving negligent entrustment, e.g., Hagerty v. Powers, 66 Cal. 368, 5 P. 622 (1884) (father permitted small child to have loaded gun); Ryley v. Lafferty, 45 F.2d 641 (D.Idaho 1930) (beating another child).
[2]  As mentioned, the plaintiff relies on the Restatement as applicable to the facts in the instant case. We are not expressing any opinion as to whether or not § 316 is applicable; we only decide that the complaint is insufficient to bring it within the rule of the Restatement.