Opinion ID: 1044006
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Vehicle Maintained for the Pleasure or Comfort of Family

Text: The family purpose doctrine applies only if the vehicle is maintain[ed]... for the purpose of providing pleasure or comfort for [the] family. Camper, 915 S.W.2d at 447. This pleasure or comfort language became part of the doctrine at a time when vehicles represented a newly available technology and were used primarily for recreation, having not yet become a necessary component of everyday life. Father argues that he provided and maintained the vehicle only for Son's pleasure or comfort, not for the family's pleasure or comfort. Father's interpretation of this requirement is too restrictive. Our case law supports a broader view. In Gray v. Mitsky, 280 S.W.3d 828 (Tenn.Ct.App.2008), the plaintiff sued the father of the driver of a car that rear-ended her vehicle. The father, who was the registered owner of the car, testified that he had given his son the car and that his son was not using the car for a family purpose. Id. at 829. The son testified that once his father gave him the car, it was the son's alone, that he was completely responsible for it, and that he was not using it for a family purpose. Id. His mother testified that she and the father had cancelled their insurance coverage of the car because it had been given to the son. Id. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals held that the family purpose doctrine applied, stating that a driver can be operating a vehicle for a family purpose `even if the driver is only using the automobile for his own pleasure or convenience.' Id. at 831 (quoting Thurmon v. Sellers, 62 S.W.3d 145, 156 (Tenn.Ct.App.2001)); see also Calhoun v. Eaves, 114 Ga.App. 756, 152 S.E.2d 805, 808 (1966) (noting that while it is essential that the vehicle be furnished by the head of the family for a family purpose, [t]he vehicle may be furnished... for the use of less than all members of the family). Even though Father may have subjectively intended to give the vehicle just to Son for Son's sole use, in doing so, he provided a benefit to the family unit by providing Son with a source of transportation. At the time of the accident, Son was with his sister on a holiday shopping trip; this was a benefit to the family. There is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the vehicle was maintained for the purpose of providing pleasure or comfort to the family.