Opinion ID: 1711814
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: orefice

Text: Subsequently, this Court followed the precedent set by the district court and held that permitting tort suits between members of a family unit would be inconsistent with Florida public policy favoring the integrity of the family. See Orefice v. Albert, 237 So.2d 142, 145 (Fla.1970). The Court emphasized that the major purpose of the rule, including the bar of suits between children and parents, was to protect family harmony and resources. See id. The family immunity doctrine as adopted in Orefice remained unchanged in Florida until 1982 and this Court's decision in Ard v. Ard, 414 So.2d 1066 (Fla.1982). In Ard this Court carved out an exception to the parental immunity doctrine for negligence actions brought by a minor child against a parent who was protected by liability insurance for the incident giving rise to the action. See Ard, 414 So.2d at 1067. Importantly, we noted the trend among other states toward abrogating or limiting parental immunity where changes in the contemporary conditions and life diminished the strength of the policies supporting the doctrine. [14] See id. at 1067-68. We recognized, for example, that many states had long since created an exception to the doctrine in cases dealing with the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by a parent where there was liability insurance covering such incidents. See id. This Court also rejected the potential for fraud or collusion by family members as a valid reason to refuse to recognize any exceptions to the doctrine, noting that the potential for fraud generally existed in any lawsuit. See id. at 1069. [15]