Suing parents for child’s violent acts is difficult
By Kim Lyons, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
While the impulse to find someone to blame is understandable, experts say there is a fairly high threshold for victims to successfully sue the parents of an underage assailant.
Under
That is, unless it can be shown that the parents had knowledge of a child's dangerous propensity and were able to control the child but failed to act to prevent the child from committing violence. Then, the amount sought in a lawsuit could be much higher and include restitution for such things as medical expenses and pain and suffering.
"And it's not enough to know there is a risk, it has to be an appreciation that there is an unreasonable risk of harm, and have to be able to show the parents had the ability to control the person," said
"If they are living in fear of the child, they may not have that control."
There is still much that is not known about the attack earlier this week at
His attorney,
When such an attack occurs inside a school, there is the possibility the school district could be sued as well, said
"A school is supposed to provide a safe environment,"
That was the case in the Columbine attacks, where the school district held that it could not have adequately prepared for what Klebold and Harris planned. A federal judge dismissed lawsuits filed against the district.
Various courts have ruled that school districts can be sued by victims of campus violence, but in
Perhaps the most notorious local case of parental liability in a child's crime involved Richard Baumhammers. Baumhammers was living in
His parents were sued by his victims' families, who ended up receiving far less than the
Andrejs and Inese Baumhammers paid each family of a deceased victim about
"In that case, the argument was that they knew he was violent and knew he had guns," said
Insurance policies aren't always going to be found responsible to pay in such cases. In the Baumhammers case, the state
"Short of a parent who knows a kid is going to go out and commit a crime, it's very hard to prove liability,"
In any situation where a child is charged with a crime, the facts are rarely cut-and-dried, but it's the details that determine whether parents are liable,
For example, if a minor child drinks alcohol at home with a parent's knowledge and later becomes involved a car accident that injures someone, a parent could be held responsible for the injuries to the victim,
But in many instances, it may not be possible for a parent to know when a child is planning to commit violence and even harder to prove the parents could have done anything to prevent it, said
"If the conduct comes out of the blue and the parents have never seen anything like it before, there will be a difficult time meeting that standard," he said.
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