Court Opinion

ID: 9619871
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:34:21.94896+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:46:55.561846
License: Public Domain

Clark, C. J.
delivered an elaborate dissenting opinion.
Wick v. Wick, 192 Wisconsin 260, 212 N.W. 787, 788, was an action brought against the defendant by his child, Laurenta Wick, an infant less than 14 years old by her mother, Alvina Wick, as the child’s guardian ad litem. The action was to recover damages for person injuries sustained by plaintiff as a result of an automobile accident claimed to be due to the negligence of the defendant. A demurrer to the complaint was overruled. From that order the defendant appealed and the question was presented whether an infant child may maintain an action in tort against its parents. Be-versing the action of the trial court the cause was remanded with instructions to sustain the demurrer. After indicating the existence of the great weight of *49authority against the allowance of such an action the court in the course of its opinion said:
“The reasons in support of this doctrine may be summarized as follows: The family is a social unit. The members thereof are of the same blood. They are bound together by the strongest natural ties. Naturally, mutual love and affection obtain between the members thereof. There is mutual interest in one another’s welfare. The family fireside is a place of repose and happiness. Society takes its caste from the character of its homes. It has a deep interest in maintaining in its integrity and stability the natural conception of the family unit. This imputes authority to the parent and requires obedience of the child. To question the authority of the parent or to encourage the disobedience of the child is to impair the peace and happiness of the family and undermine the wholesome influence of the-home. To permit a child to maintain an action in tort against the parent is to introduce discord and contention where the laws of nature have established peace and obedience. Natural instinct condemns such proceedings as mostly unseemly, and the laws of society will not, to the detriment of society, defeat the benign influence of the laws of nature. That public policy which looks to the public welfare will not encourage discord and rebellion in the family unit, and thus destroy that wholesome influence of the home in moulding the character of our future citizens. Generally speaking, filial affection is ample protection to the child from excessive punishment at the hands of the parent, but where the authority of the parent is abused in the way of excessive or brutal punishment a child will be protected through the criminal laws of the state. True, this does not redress the child for permanent injuries which thus may be inflicted. But it is deemed better public policy that occasional injuries of this kind go unrequited rather than encourage or tolerate proceedings so repugnant to natural sentiments concerning family relations. We find ourselves thoroughly in accord with courts holding that an action of this kind cannot be maintained, and indorse the doctrine as one founded in a wholesome public policy.”
*50One of the judges registered his dissent from the views of the majority.
The case of Cowgill v. Book, 189 Ore. 282, 218 P (2d) 445, 451, 452, cited by appellant does not aid us much in reaching a correct disposition of the instant case. This is demonstrated by the following excerpt from the opinion of the majority of the court, viz:
“We appreciate full well that it is a wholesome rule and that it should be the policy of the law to preserve and maintain the security, peace and tranquility of the home, which indeed is the very foundation upon which our government rests. It is unthinkable, that a parent, while acting within the scope of domestic relations, should be brought into court to defend against every unintentional personal tort that might be committed against a minor child. It is common knowledge that a parent, in order to maintain discipline and the quiet and peace of the home, is in the ordinary course of human events, occasionally obliged to administer reasonably corporal punishment to a minor child. However, if from wicked motives a parent should brutally beat his minor child and thus maim him for life, are we to say that he should be immune from liability merely by reason of his parenthood? Is the welfare of society or a wholesome public policy subserved by granting immunity to a parent guilty of such brutality? * * *
“After a careful consideration of the authorities, we think the general rule — so well established by the authorities — should be modified to allow an unemanci-pated minor child to maintain an action for damages against his parent for a wilful or malicious personal tort. The evidence in the instant action certainly shows that the decedent — father was guilty of wilful misconduct. Ordinary negligence or the doing of an unintentional wrong cannot be the basis for such an action. To apply a hard and fast rule of nonliability to the facts in this case would, in our opinion, defeat justice and not subserve a sound public policy.”
We may appropriately note also the pertinent excerpt from the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Brand at page 457 to the following effect:
*51“Nor is the disruption of the spirtual harmony of the family the only basis for the policy which denies recovery in these cases. Recovery by an infant suing by guardian against his father might in many instances result in the transfer to the infant of the family assets on which other innocent children, members of the same family, are dependent for support. It must be remembered that the law as well as parental affection imposes upon a father the duty of care for an injured child whether the injury was the result of a tortious act or of pure accident. 39 Am. Jur. Parent and Child, § 47, p. 672.”
In Matarese v. Matarese, 47 R.I. 131, 131 A. 199, 42 A.L.R. 1360, the action was one where the defendant was the father of the plaintiff. The evidence presented in the case established that the defendant bore that relation to the plaintiff and that:
“At the time of the injury complained of the plaintiff was about five years old, and was a member of her father’s household. Just before her injury she was playing on the sidewalk near her home and the defendant was approaching her driving an automobile. The defendant, at the request of the plaintiff, stopped, and then either invited or permitted the plaintiff, to sit upon the running board of the machine to ride to their home. While she was in that position the defendant started the machine forward, the plaintiff was thrown to the ground, a rear wheel of the automobile passed over her leg, fracturing the bone and seriously injuring her. The justice directed a verdict for the defendant on the ground that the plaintiff could not maintain an action of this nature against her father.”
Affirming the ruling of the trial court in holding the litigation not maintainable and directing a verdict for the defendant the appellate court declared:
“Immemorially the family has been an important element of our civil society, one of the supports upon which our civilization has developed. Save as modified by the Legislature, in domestic affairs the family has remained in law a self-governing entity, under the discipline and direction of the father as its head. As *52part of the family order or arrangement are the related obligations and rights of the father and his minor child while the child remains in his household unemanci-pated. On the part of the father is the right and duty to control, protect, support, and to guide or educate the child. The reciprocal duty of the child is to serve and obey the father. These fundamental principles are traceable to ancient customs and usages, and are fixed by tradition and evidenced by the decisions of the courts. Anything that brings the child into conflict with the father or diminishes the father’s authority or hampers him in its exercise is repugnant to the family establishment, and is not to be countenanced save upon positive provisions of the statute law. Any proceeding tending to bring discord into the family and disorganize its government may well be regarded as contrary to the common law, and not to be sanctioned by the courts. Such conflict would arise by recognizing the right of a minor child to bring his personal action against the father to recover damages for torts alleged to have been committed by the father in the course of the family relation, and resulting in personal injury to the child. The state by criminal proceedings will punish the father for the gross abuse of his power of control and discipline resulting in injury. For his continued abuse or neglect, indicating that the restraint arising from parental affection has failed, the state will remove the child from the father’s control. It is, however, inconsistent with the family relation, while it exists, to permit the maintenance of such an action as that at bar of a minor child against his father to recover damages for the alleged negligence of the father.”
Of similar purport is the case of Rambo v. Rambo, 195 Ark. 832, 114 S.W. (2d) 468. In that case the defending father carried a public liability policy.
In Luster v. Luster, 299 Mass 480, 13 N.E. (2d) 438, 439, 440, Mr. Justice Qua declared in part, as he spoke for the court, in a case where the court was considering an action brought by an unemancipated minor child against his father, and it appeared that the defendant *53had negligently backed his truck over his minor son causing the latter severe injuries:
“But beginning in 1891 and continuing to the present an overwhelming weight of authority has been built up in this country against the maintenance of such actions on grounds of public policy. It is also generally held that similar actions will not lie by a parent against his minor child. * * * *
“Although the relation of husband and wife at common law does not furnish a perfect analogy to that of parent and minor child, yet it seems significant that notwithstanding the statutes which have been passed to enable the two spouses to stand before the law as separate individuals with substantially equal rights, our Legislature still refuses to authorize actions at law between them. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 209, § 6; Lubowitz v. Taines, Mass. 198 N.E. 320. The reason for this would seem to lie in views of public policy which are equally applicable as between parent and minor child. See Thompson v. Thompson, 218 U.S. 611, 617, 31 S. Ct. 111, 54 L.Ed 1180, 30 L.R.A.(N.S.) 1153, 21 Anno. Cas. 921.
“We are aware that the majority rule has been criticized by some commentators; that text writers are not all in agreement upon it; that it has been doubted and distinguished by a majority of the court in the recent thoroughly considered case of Dunlap v. Dunlap, 84 N.H. 352, 150 A. 905, 71 A.L.R. 1055; and that in several of the leading cases there are vigorous dissents. Nevertheless we believe that, as applied to a case like this, the principle of the American decisions is sound.
“We cannot follow the plaintiff’s contention that this case is taken out of the general rule because, as it is said, the circumstances of the accident were not connected with the father’s duty to rear his child or with the conduct of domestic establishment and were such that any other child in the plaintiff’s position would have been injured. We do not perceive how it would be possible in practice to draw such a line of distinction as that here suggested. The objections based upon public policy reach to and include this case.
*54“It is difficult to see how the fact, if it be a fact, that the defendant carried liability insurance covering this accident can impose a liability where none would otherwise exist. Aside from a certain incongruity in at-temptng to bend general rules of liability so that their application to particular instances shall depend upon the existence or absence of insurance against such liability, it would seem that insurance does not remove the fundamental objections to such an action as this. The proceeding is still in theory an adversary one, and for various reasons it may be such in fact. If it is not, then it becomes peculiarly liable to abuse through collusion. Other courts have said that the fact that the defendant parent is insured does not change the rule.” (Citing many authorities.)
About two years later the same court had occasion to decide the case presenting in its facts substantially the converse of the Loster case. In Oliveria v. Oliveria 305 Mass. 297, 25 N.E. (2d) 766, 767, with the Luster case, supra, before him, the same judge then remarked, as he spoke for the court, very pertinently that:
“The first case presents the question whether a parent may maintain an action against his or her uneman-cipated minor child, who is living in his or her family, for personal injuries caused by negligence. In Luster v. Luster, Mass, 13 N.E. 2d 438, we held that under similar circumstances public policy prevented recovery by the child against the parent. Not all of the particular reasons given for our former opinion apply conversely to the case now before us. But in our view the fundamental objection that it is contrary to the best interests of society that the innumerable intimate contacts between parent and child in the life of the family should become the subject of actions for negligence remains in full force. Desirable as it is. that the law should develop logically and symmetrically, it is still more important that it should be suited to the manner of life and habits of thought of the great mass of people whom it is to govern. In our opinion it is repugnant to the prevailing sense of propriety that a mother should bring an action at law against her own minor child, perhaps of tender years, for some *55act of carelessness in the course of family life which it might seem that the child had the capacity to foresee and to prevent. As the law must operate through general rules, and as twenty-one years is the established age at which parental authority and the common law duties of support and obedience cease, we can find no sufficient reason for introducing difficult distinctions based upon the age of the minor. Such an action as this was unknown here until the recent extension of liability insurance held out the hope that occurrences within the home cirle might become a source of net profit to the family. The great weight of existing authority, most of which is found in very recent cases, is against such an action.” (Citing many cases.)
One of the latest cases which has come under our notice relative to the question we have before us is that of Adam v. Nadel 124 N.Y.S. (2d) 427 (decided August 20, 1953, by the Supreme Court at Special Term). That was a case where an infant ward of an orphan asylum was injured as the result of an automobile accident which occurred while the infant was a passenger in the automoble. The court held that the infant was entitled to maintain an action for the injuries against the driver of such automobile although the infant had been adopted by the driver. Pointing out that an action for personal injuries resulting from negligence could not be maintained in New York against a natural parent by an unemancipated child, the court reviewed the controlling decisions of the New York Court of Appeals and expressed its complete agreement with those cases. The language used by the court in its opinion relative to this point is as follows (p. 429) :
“In Cannon v. Cannon, 287 N.Y. 425, 40 N.E. 2d 236, 237, the Court of Appeals had before it the specific question ‘May an unemancipated minor child maintain an action against his parents for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by their negligence?’
*56“The court’s answer was in part as follows, 287 N.Y. at pages 428, 429, 40 N.E. (2d) at page 238:
“ ‘Not yet, however, have our courts granted an un emancipated child — whom the law decrees to be a member of that household — the right to hold his parents in damages for unintended personal injuries resulting from such conditions. Indeed, if within the wide scope of daily experience common to the upbringing of a child a parent may be subjected to a suit for damages for each failure to exercise care commensurate with the risk — for each injury caused by inattention, unwise choice or even selfishness — a new and heavy burden will be added to parenthood.’ * * *
“ ‘In the absence of statutory sanction, we are not prepared, in cases where wilful misconduct by the parent is not a factor, to inject the disruptive risk of tort liability between parents and their unemancipated children, in which relationship both parents and children — by nature and by law — have reciprocal duties to perform which still make for family unity.’
“The rationale for this rule was also set forth in Crosby v. Crosby, 230 App. Div. 651, at pages 652-653, 246 N.Y.S. 384, at page 386, as follows:
“ ‘Among the reasons assigned by the courts for denying an unemancipated child, the right to recover for a personal injury inflicted by the parent is the danger of disrupting the tranquility of the family, the interference with parental discipline and control, and the old Roman doctrine that the family in its entirety was a unit * * * . “Public policy is said to favor this rule of statutory construction as safeguarding the home. ‘It is better to draw the curtain, shut out the public gaze, and leave the parties to forget and forgive.’ ”
It may not be amiss to add at this point a brief excerpt from Mr. Ernest R. Groves’ treatise on “The Family and its Social Functions.” The learned author there said at p. 218:
“The modern state maintains a twofold relationship with the family. It gains support from and gives support to the domestic institution. Family deterioration *57registers quickly in political life, appearing in loss of integrity in both citizenship and governmental activities.” (Italics supplied).
So we reiterate after an examination and study of the above cited authorities and very many more that a sound public policy leads us to think that the trial judge in the case at bar was correct in his rulings and we are, therefore, constrained to sustain his ruling on the demurrer and subsequent judgment.
It will be understood nevertheless that we confine the result reached in this case to the situation disclosed herein. Naturally, we do not undertake to determine any rule for causes involving special circumstances widely variant from those now presented at bar.
However, we feel that it is proper to say also as did the Rhode Island Court in the Matarese case, supra, in substance, that the judiciary should be reluctant to encourage actions as maintainable between children and their parents unless sanctioned by the statute law or where they disclose so clear an invasion of the rights of the child as tending to bring discord into the family and to disorganize its proper government. Let the judgment of the District Court of Sheridan county be affirmed.

Affirmed.

Harnsberger, J., and Kline, D. J. concur