Court Opinion

ID: 9731916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:01:20.968651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:18.171033
License: Public Domain

ROGOSHESKE, Justice
(dissenting).
I disagree with the majority’s complete abrogation of parent-child tort immunity in negligence cases. I am not persuaded that the parent-child relationship, long preserved from legal interference on public policy grounds, has so declined in importance that considerations of insurance and simplified judicial administration under a jury standard warrant application of general tort principles to family interactions. In my view, the Silesky1 exceptions to abrogation of parental immunity should be retained and, on these facts, the first exception should be applied to immunize negligent parental supervision.
In Balts v. Balts, 273 Minn. 419, 142 N.W.2d 66 (1966), and Silesky v. Kelman, 281 Minn. 431, 161 N.W.2d 631 (1968), we considered the policies underlying the parental immunity doctrine and concluded that they were not served by barring suit by a parent against a child or by a child against a parent for negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Mindful that the uniqueness of the parent-child relationship precludes blind application of traditional negligence principles, in Silesky we followed the approach of Goller v. White, 20 Wis.2d 402, 122 N.W.2d 193 (1963), and abrogated parent-child tort immunity except in the following situations: “(1) where the alleged negligent act involves an exercise of reasonable parental authority over the child; and (2) where the alleged negligent act involves an exercise of ordinary parental discretion with respect to the provision of food, clothing, housing, medical and dental services, and other care.”2 281 Minn. at 442, 161 N.W.2d at 638. Subsequent to the Silesky decision, the Supreme Court of California considered the issue of whether to retain parent-child tort immunity in Gibson v. Gibson, 3 Cal.3d 914, 92 Cal.Rptr. 288, 479 P.2d 648 (1971). The Gibson court rejected the Goller-Silesky approach, reasoning that its application makes arbitrary distinctions and inevitably affords parents an opportunity to act negligently within certain aspects of the parent-child relationship. The Gibson court agreed with the Goller-Silesky approach’s recognition of the fact that a parent may *602exercise authority over a child that would be tortious if directed at a third party but accommodated that reality by adopting a modified reasonable-man standard — “what would an ordinarily reasonable and prudent parent have done in similar circumstances?” 3 Cal.3d at 921, 92 Cal.Rptr. at 293, 479 P.2d at 653. Accord, Nolochek v. Gesuale, 46 N.Y.2d 332, 413 N.Y.S.2d 340, 385 N.E.2d 1268 (1978) (Fuchsberg, J., concurring). Although the Gibson decision has been on the books for nearly 10 years, no jurisdiction has followed it. I would reject it for the following reasons.
The parent-child relationship is legally unique in at least two principal respects. First, a parent is required to provide his child with such necessaries as food, clothing and shelter. Second, a parent has the authority to impose the supervision, discipline and control of his child that is essential to his exercise of the socially conferred responsibility and privilege of training the child. The Silesky exceptions, which embrace these two special aspects of the parent-child relationship, encourage performance of parental obligations by preserving the integrity of family decisionmaking and fostering a family atmosphere of respect and trust. The exceptions implicitly acknowledge that the varied economic, educational, cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds of parents, and the individual personalities and development paces of children result in such a multitude of permutations of parent-child relationships that no objective standard of proper child rearing is possible. While the exceptions recognize that discharge of parental functions depends on natural instinct, love and morality rather than legal sanctions, they do not assume too much by permitting parents to act negligently toward their children with impunity. Each exception contains language of limitation, i. e., the exercise of parental authority must be “reasonable,” the exercise of parental discretion “ordinary.” Thus I remain convinced that the parent-child relationship is a special one which the law ought to protect so long as the protection is of conduct tending to fulfill the duties and objectives of the relationship.
In my view, the Silesky exceptions possess major advantages over the “reasonable parent” approach. First, the objective standard encourages parents to disparage the favored American principle of freedom of choice in family matters 3 by holding out the possibility of an insurance recovery if a parent is willing to expose his conduct and judgment to public scrutiny. Second, jury verdicts based on a reasonable parent standard in this value-laden area do not inspire public confidence, since they would necessarily substitute parental judgments based upon the individual juror’s views of proper or ideal child-rearing practices. The tendency toward arbitrary and intrusive standards of good parenting, which stems from the fact that most jurors have strong views in this area due to their personal experiences as parents and children, cannot be alleviated by precise instructions. The reasonable parent standard thus invites a recovery-oriented parent to gamble that a jury will find him negligent. Moreover, since the jury must consider the family context and the parent is the best, and perhaps only, witness capable of expressing the personal, cultural and socio-economic principles by which he raises his children, the danger of collusion is significant. These are not the types of claims our adversary system of factfinding is equipped to impartially resolve, and the parent’s incentive for an opportunity to influence the result is so great as to further undermine the process.
Moreover, abolition of immunity is not restricted to parents who voluntarily put their conduct in issue. An estranged or divorced parent may sue on the child’s behalf, thereby compelling the other parent to have his actions publicly aired and judged, adding to the acrimony normally incident to the breakup of the family unit. Such suits could be used as tools to manipulate the child’s affections and to destroy loyalty to *603the sued parent. Also, parents who value family privacy may decline to sue negligent third parties because our third-party procedural rules invite, if not require, their being impleaded on claims that they negligently supervised their child. To the extent that parents cannot control when they will be sued, the reasonable parent standard discourages novel child-rearing practices. In addition, it creates potential for judgments discriminating against parents whose conduct does not conform to prevailing community standards.
The most emphasized argument for abolishing the exceptions is that the prevalence of liability insurance overcomes countervailing social policy considerations. We acknowledged in both Balts and Silesky that the availability of insurance was a factor in determining whether immunity should be retained, but we emphasized that its presence was not conclusive. While most parents owning a home of necessity purchase a comprehensive homeowner’s policy which includes tort liability coverage, such insurance, unlike motor vehicle liability insurance, is not made compulsory by statute. Although children whose parents are insured might be expected to prosecute their claims eagerly, vulnerability to a suit for contribution surely will make uninsured parents reluctant to assert claims against negligent third parties. Thus a child may be deterred from suing an insured person. If the child of an uninsured parent does sue a third party and the parent is ultimately held liable for contribution, family strife will surely result, especially where there are other children in the family who will suffer economic deprivation because of a sibling’s recovery against the parent. Those dangers are also present where the parents are inadequately insured.
Furthermore, when a child sues his parent in Minnesota the jury is not expressly informed that an insurance company is the real party in interest. Unlike Wisconsin where by statute4 the insurer is permitted to be named as a party defendant, our rules and statutes not only prohibit naming the insurance company but are designed to avoid prejudice believed to result if the existence of insurance is referred to other than on voir dire. If the existence of insurance is revealed in these cases, the jury is benefited in two primary ways. First, the complexion of the suit is changed from a dispute between parent and child to a claim by a child against his parent’s insurance company, which claim the company has refused to pay. Second, disclosure of insurance makes clear where the true adversity lies and allows the jury to consider the credibility of the parent’s testimony in its proper context. Since these advantages are not available under our statutes, I cannot agree that the presence of insurance conclusively persuades in favor of the reasonable parent standard. As I see it, the main advantage of the reasonable parent standard found by the majority is ease of judicial administration. It is incontrovertible that the Silesky exceptions are in some respects difficult to apply. I believe, however, that the limited protection afforded the family relationship by the exceptions has social value. By abolishing the exceptions we would make available monetary recovery to injured children; by retaining them we foster a family atmosphere in which emotional and psychological reparation can be made. At the very least, so long as the parent alone rather than the parent and his insurer is named the defendant, there still exist, in my opinion, multiple valid reasons to retain the exceptions.5
In both of these cases the alleged negligence consists of the failure of parents to supervise their children. I am persuaded that negligent supervision is the type of parental act contemplated by the first Sile-sky exception which provides immunity for an exercise of parental authority. In Romanik v. Toro Co., 277 N.W.2d 515 (Minn.1979), we acknowledged that courts facing *604the issue have reached contrary conclusions. Compare Thoreson v. Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Co., 56 Wis.2d 231, 201 N.W.2d 745 (1972) with Paige v. Bing Const. Co., 61 Mich.App. 480, 233 N.W.2d 46 (1975). I find the court’s reasoning in Paige compelling:
A parent’s exercise of authority over his or her child involves more than discipline. It includes the providing of instruction and education so that a child may be aware of dangers to his or her well being. We find it impossible to separate such general phenomena as authority and supervision. In order to adequately supervise a child, every parent knows that some amount of discipline is inextricably involved. The right to exercise authority over a child certainly includes the responsibility to supervise that child’s behavior.
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Each parent has unique and inimitable methods and attitudes on how children should be supervised. Likewise, each child requires individualized guidance depending on intuitive concerns which only a parent can understand. Also, different cultural, educational and financial conditions affect the manner in which different parents supervise their children. Allowing a cause of action for negligent supervision would enable others, ignorant of a case’s peculiar familial distinctions and bereft of any standards, to second-guess a parent’s management of family affairs considerably beyond these statutory protections.
61 Mich.App. at 486, 233 N.W.2d at 48-9. See Bell v. Schwartz, 422 F.Supp. 257 (D.Minn.1976). I would hold that where the alleged negligent conduct is a parent’s failure to supervise his child the parent is immune under the “parental authority” exception if, as here, the omission is not outrageous.

. Silesky v. Kelman, 281 Minn. 431, 161 N.W.2d 631 (1968).

. In Schenk v. Schenk, 100 Ill.App.2d 199, 241 N.E.2d 12 (1968), the court took a similar approach, abrogating immunity except where the tortious conduct arises out of the family relationship and is directly connected to a family purpose or objective.
Gelbman v. Gelbman, 23 N.Y.2d 434, 297 N.Y.S.2d 529, 245 N.E.2d 192 (1969), abrogated the defense of intrafamilial immunity for negligence in New York. In Holodook v. Spencer, 36 N.Y.2d 35, 364 N.Y.S.2d 859, 324 N.E.2d 338 (1974), however, the court held that a child has no legally cognizable claim for negligent supervision, thereby creating a rule similar in effect to the first Goller exception using a different legal theory. Moreover, New York has broadly interpreted negligent supervision to include such acts as momentarily turning away from a glass of liquid caustic used to unclog drains and carrying a child across an unlit portion of a superhighway at a place not designated as a pedestrian crossing. Addiego v. Interboro General Hospital, 81 Misc.2d 96, 365 N.Y.S.2d 718 (1975); Agin v. Likens, 81 Misc.2d 690, 366 N.Y.S.2d 798 (1975).

. See, e. g., Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925).

. Wis.Stat.Ann. § 803.04, subd. 2 (West 1977).

. See concurring and dissenting opinions in Balts v. Balts, 273 Minn. 419, 437, 438, 142 N.W.2d 66, 78 (1966); and in Silesky v. Kel-man, 281 Minn. 431, 443, 161 N.W-.2d 631, 638 (1968).