Elam v. Elam

268 S.E.2d 109, 275 S.C. 132, 1980 S.C. LEXIS 419

• Court: Supreme Court of South Carolina
• Decided: July 2, 1980
• Docket: 21257
• Status: Published

Opinions

Ness, Justice:

These consolidated appeals present an identical issue: Is § 15-5-210, Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976), which abolishes the parental immunity doctrine only in motor vehicle accident cases, unconstitutional? We conclude it is.

Both cases involve unemancipated minor passengers who were injured while riding in automobiles allegedly operated negligently by a parent. The trial court held the statute violated the equal protection clauses of the South Carolina and United States Constitutions pursuant to this Court’s decision in Marley v. Kirby, 271 S. C. 122, 245 S. E. (2d) 604 (1978). Marley held that South Carolina comparative negligence statute unconstitutional on equal protection grounds as it applied only to motor vehicle accidents.

Appellant Maw poses an additional issue: Assuming the unconstitutionality of the statute, does the court-created parental immunity doctrine withstand constitutional scrutiny? Appellant urges this Court to abandon the common law doctrine on equal protection grounds, and permit suits by injured unemancipated minor against their parents.¹

Section 15-5-210 provides:

“An unemancipated child may sue and be sued by his parents in an action for personal injuries arising out of a motor vehicle accident. In any such action there shall be appointed a guardian ad litem as provided by law for such child.”

We first consider the constitutionality of Code § 15-5-210. In Marley v. Kirby, supra, we held “[t]he limitation of the operation of the South Carolina statute (adoping comparative negligence) to motor vehicle accidents renders the provision constitutionally defective.” 271 S. C. at 125, 245 S. E. (2d) at 606. There is no rational justification for singling out persons injured in automobile accidents for purposes of comparative negligence; similarly, there is no valid reason to treat unemancipated minors injured in automobile accidents differently from their peers tortiously injured in other ways. We, .therefore, affirm the trial court’s holding of unconstitutionality.

We next consider whether the court-created parental immunity doctrine should be abolished.

An unemancipated minor may sue his parent in a will or contract dispute but not in tort. Harper & James, Law of Torts, § 8:11 at p. 647. An emancipated child, regardless of age, may sue the parent, and the parent may sue the child for personal injuries. Parker v. Parker, 230 S. C. 28, 94 S. E. (2d) 12 (1956).² There is no logical justification for such distinctions.

Respondent first contends the issue of the viability of the common law doctrine was not raised below. However, in holding the statute unconstitutional, the trial court implicitly held no cause of action existed due to the immunity doctrine; therefore the issue was preserved for appeal.

The rationale for the doctrine of parental immunity has been universally condemned by commentators and courts. See, e.g., Chapin, Parent-Child Tort Immunity: A Rule in Need of Change, 27 U. Miami L. Rev. 191 (1972), and Sorensen v. Sorensen, 369 Mass. 350, 339 N. E. (2d) 907 (1975). There was no early common law prohibition against suit by child against parent in tort. Eversley, Domestic Relations 554 (2nd Ed. 1896). The parent-child immunity doctrine was created in the case of Hewlette v. George, 68 Miss. 703, 9 So. 885 (1891) where the Court reasoned:

“. . . But so long as the parent is under obligation to care for, guide, and control, and the child is under reciprocal obligation to aid and comfort and obey, no such action as this can- be maintained. The peace of society, and of the families composing society, and a sound public policy, designed to sub-serve the repose of families and the best interests of society, forbid to the minor child a right to appear in court in the -assertion of a claim to civil redress for personal injuries suffered at the hands of the parent. The state, through its criminal laws, will give the minor child protection from parental violence and wrong-doing, -and this is all -the child can be heard' to demand.” 9 So. at 887.

The sole reason advanced for applying the doctrine to automobile tort -cases was the “family harmony” theory initially articulated by the Hewlette court. Parker v. Parker, supra. The family harmony theory, without more, cannot support the doctrine against constitutional attack. In Falco v. Pados, 444 Pa. 372, 282 A. (2d) 351, 355 (Pa. 1971), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stated:

“The speculative theory of family disruption upon which the doctrine of parental immunity is largely based has been criticized and rejected by legal scholars without exception. As they point out, it is the injury itself which is .the disruptive act, and with today’s sky-rocketing health costs, one which often works the greatest hardship on the family unit.”

Moreover, this Court is not blind to the existence of universal automobile liability insurance. An injured daughter suing her automobile driver father, is, in reality, a daughter suing her father’s insurer. Although the existence of liability insurance does not translate into automatic liability,³ it is a relevant factor to be considered by this Court in evaluating the continued vitality of a court-created common law doctrine. See Streenz v. Streenz, 106 Ariz. 86, 471 P. (2d) 282, 284 (1970); Lee v. Comer, 224 S. E. (2d) 721, 723 (W. Va. 1976).

Even without the factor of automobile liability insurance, the argument that tort actions between parent and child will foster greater discord than actions in probate or contract is untenable. Indeed, in those actions, insurance may not be available, and family possessions are often at stake.

This rationale is further discredited by the fact that a wife may sue her husband for personal injuries. Logic and justice are defied by permitting suit by a wife and emancipated daughter, but not by an unemancipated son when all are injured in the same accident ¡through the negligence of the husband-father.

The family harmony rationale is a specious one which this Court can no longer embrace. In accord: Hebel v. Hebel, 435 (Alas. 1967); Streens v. Streens, 206 Ariz. 86, 471 P. (2d) 282 (1970); Gibson v. Gibson, 3 Cal. (3d) 914, 479 P. (2d) 648 (1971) ; Peterson v. City & County of Honolulu, 51 Hawaii 484, 462 P. (2d) 1007 (1969); Rigdon v. Rigdon, 465 S. W. (2d) 921 (Ky. 1971) ; Plumley v. Klein, 388 Mich. 1, 199 N. W. (2d) 169 (1972) ; Balts v. Balts, 273 Minn. 419, 142 N. W. (2d) 66 (1966) ; Rupert v. Stienne, 90 Nev. 397, 528 P. (2d) 1013 (1974); Briere v. Briere, 107 N. H. 432, 224 A. (2d) 588 (1966) ; France v. A.P.A. Transp. Corp., 56 N. J. 500, 267 A. (2d) 490 (1970); Gelbman v. Gelbman, 23 N. Y. (2d) 434, 297 N. Y. S. (2d) 529, 245 N. E. (2d) 192 (1969); Nuelle v. Wells, 154 N. W. (2d) 364 (N. D. 1967) ; Falco v. Pados, 444 Pa. 372, 282 A. (2d) 351 (1971); Smith v. Kauffman, 212 Va. 181, 183 S. E. (2d) 190 (1971); Goller v. White, 20 Wis. (2d) 402, 122 N. W. (2d) 193 (1963) ; Felderhoff v. Felderhoff, 473 S. W. (2d) 928 (Tex. 1971).

An additional justification for the doctrine advanced by several older decisions in other jurisdictions is that the immunity doctrine prevents collusive lawsuits between parent and child. We reject this for the same reasons noted in Ramey v. Ramey, S. C, 258 S. E. (2d) 883 (1979), where we struck down the guest-passenger statute.

As the parental immunity doctrine is court-created, we are required to examine its holdings.⁴ Brown v. Anderson County Hospital Assoc., 268 S. C. 479, 234 S. E. (2d) 873 (1977). While this Court adheres to the principle of stare decisis, it should not be applied to “effect a petrifying rigidity” in common law. Id. at 486, 234 S. E. (2d) 873.

Therefore, we abolish the parental immunity common law doctrine in South Carolina.

Affirmed in part; reversed in part and remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Lewis, C. J., and Gregory and Harwell, JJ., concur. Littlejohn, J., concurs in part and dissents in part.

1 The constitutional issue has not been presented in any previous decision of this Court involving family immunity.

2 It has been held that the parental immunity doctrine does not extend to tortious damage to personal property of a minor. Thus, the-automobile owning son whose car is wrecked by his parent may sue-for the property damage incurred but not for the personal injuries he sustains by reason of his being a passenger in his parent operated, vehicle.

3 Maxey v. Sauls, 242 S. C. 247, 130 S. E. (2d) 570 (1963).

4 As this Court observed in Brown v. Anderson County Hospital Assoc., 268 S. C. 479, 234 S. E. (2d) 873 (1977) all court created immunities frustrate our common law system of jurisprudence.