Opinion ID: 2224519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: contributory negligence or consent of the parents.

Text: The trial court refused to admit evidence concerning the Strains' consent to Tyler's employment. Both of Tyler's parents were aware of Tyler's employment. They were aware Tyler had obtained a certificate permitting his employer to allow him to operate powerful tractors without violating F.L.S.A. They were aware Tyler's duties would include operating Christians' International Model 1066 tractor. A wrongful death action is brought by a deceased's beneficiaries to recover for losses sustained as a result of the victim's death. Prosser & Keeton, supra, § 127. See also Flagtwet v. Smith, 367 N.W.2d 188 (S.D.1985). Whether the parents' consent to employment of their child in a dangerous occupation constitutes a bar to recovery under a wrongful death cause of action also presents an issue of first impression in this state. The general rule under statutes creating a cause of action for wrongful death states a beneficiary's recovery is barred if the beneficiary himself is guilty of contributory negligence which proximately contributes to the death of the decedent. Annotation, Contributory Negligence of Beneficiary as Affecting Action under Death or Survival Statute, 2 A.L.R.2d 785, 788 (1948). Some courts have held where a parent procures or consents to a child's employment in violation of a child labor statute, that parent may be barred from recovering for the wrongful death of the child, even though the wrongful death proximately results from employment in disobedience of the statute. Totten v. Parker, 428 S.W.2d 231, 237 (Ky.1968); Lucas E. Moore Stave Co. of Georgia v. Overbee's Adm'r., 262 S.W.2d 828, 829-30 (Ky.1953); Besonen, 220 N.W. at 303; Armstrong's Adm'r, 278 S.W. at 115; Swope v. Keystone Coal & Coke Co., 78 W.Va. 517, 89 S.E. 284, 285 (1916). Other courts, however, have held where a child is employed in violation of a child labor statute, a parent's consent to that employment does not bar recovery for the child's wrongful death. Boyer, 360 So.2d at 1171; Tampa Shipbuilding, 181 So. at 407; Dusha, 176 N.W. at 483, 23 A.L.R. at 635. See also Pinoza, 140 N.W. at 86-87; Lyons, 159 S.W. at 975-76. The Dusha court recognized the policy behind child labor statutes is to penalize employers who employ children in violation of the statute, not to impose a penalty on the parents for permitting such employment. The Dusha court implied permitting a parent's consent to bar recovery for the child's wrongful death would contravene the legislature's policy of protecting the life and limb of children by discouraging their employment in dangerous occupations. Dusha, 176 N.W. at 483, 23 A.L.R. at 635. [9] We find this reasoning persuasive. It is true the parents here knew of Tyler's employment. Certainly that would be true in most any case where a child is employed in a dangerous occupation. The statute, however, is aimed at discouraging employers from hiring children to perform such tasks, not at discouraging parents from permitting such employment. Were we to hold the Strains' consent to Tyler's employment bars their recovery, the only parents who could recover for the death of their child would be those ignorant of their child's occupation. In addition, such a holding would cause inequitable results. If a parent consented to his child's employment and the child was injured, the child could recover regardless of the parent's consent because he could have a guardian bring the cause of action on his behalf. On the other hand, if the child was killed, the parents, because they are the beneficiaries, would be barred from recovering because of their own negligence. Thus, the employer would be rewarded because the child was killed! These results were certainly not intended by the legislature when it enacted the child labor statute. Therefore, we hold a parent's consent to employment of his or her child in a dangerous occupation does not bar the parent's recovery in a wrongful death cause of action brought pursuant to the child labor statute.