Opinion ID: 2031859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Parent-Child Immunity.

Text: Michael asserted the doctrine of parent-child immunity as an affirmative defense at all critical stages of the litigation. He asked for a directed verdict on this ground at both the close of plaintiff's evidence and again at the close of all of the evidence. The issue presented is whether an unemancipated child may be held liable to a parent as a result of negligence of the child which causes injury to the parent. Parent-child immunity has no long-established roots in the common law. See Sorensen v. Sorensen, 369 Mass. 350, 353, 339 N.E.2d 907, 909 (1975); W. Prosser, The Law of Torts § 122, at 865 (4th ed. 1971). Courts have historically authorized suits between parent and child in matters involving property and contract rights. Courts which have considered whether a child is immune from suit by a parent in tort actions have viewed the issue as a logical corollary to the immunity, if any, which the parent enjoys from suit by a child. See, e.g., Balts v. Balts, 273 Minn. 419, 434, 142 N.W.2d 66, 75 (1966); Gelbman v. Gelbman, 23 N.Y.2d 434, 438, 245 N.E.2d 192, 193, 297 N.Y.S.2d 529, 531 (1969); Mauk v. Mauk, 12 Ohio St.3d 156, 157, 466 N.E.2d 166, 167 (1984); Silva v. Silva, 446 A.2d 1013, 1016-17 (R.I.1982); Ertl v. Ertl, 30 Wis.2d 372, 374, 141 N.W.2d 208, 209 (1966). We share the view that these familial immunities, to the extent they are recognized at all, should be reciprocal. Consequently, to the extent parental immunity was abolished in Turner v. Turner, 304 N.W.2d 786 (Iowa 1981), it appears it would be inconsistent to continue to recognize an immunity of children from suits by their parents. Michael urges that we recognized in Telegraph Herald v. McDowell, 397 N.W. 2d 518, 520 (Iowa 1986), that there is some remaining vestige of parent-child immunity which may preclude a parent from suing a minor child for negligence. In that case, a newspaper publishing company had placed an obstruction in the public roadway. The newspaper company was found to be liable to the owner of an automobile damaged by striking the obstruction. The newspaper company then sought contribution from the driver of the damaged automobile who was the owner's minor child. The child asserted that the family immunity doctrine precluded the common liability which is required in an action for contribution. The contribution claim in the Telegraph Herald case had been decided against the newspaper company on other grounds in the district court. The court's ruling on those grounds was found to be erroneous. The appellee sought to save the judgment on alternative grounds by urging a lack of common liability. We remanded the case to the district court for the determination of that issue, assuming but not deciding that the son could conceivably bring the case under some remaining vestige of parent-child immunity. Id. at 520. Unlike the Telegraph Herald case, we are not required to determine the immunity issue based solely on the pleadings. We conclude on the evidence produced at trial that the reasons urged by Michael for applying interfamilial immunity are without merit. Michael urges that to permit suit against the minor child in the present case will impact adversely on the parent's continued need to maintain discipline and control over their children. Relying on this premise, he contends that the present case falls within the area of retained immunity recognized in Wagner v. A.O. Smith, 340 N.W.2d 255, 256 (Iowa 1983). We disagree. The area of retained immunity recognized in the Wagner case, so as to preclude suits by children against their parents in certain situations, does not translate into an equally persuasive ground for precluding suits by parents against their children. The area of familial interest sought to be protected in Wagner is the right of parents to control their children. We do not perceive a reciprocal area of protected familial interest on the part of the children. Permitting parents to recover damages from their children for injuries caused by the children's negligence does not impact unfavorably on the area of familial responsibility which Wagner seeks to protect. The district court did not err in refusing to bar plaintiff's claim on grounds of family immunity.