Brown v. Phillips
| Decision Date | 18 March 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 71858,71858 |
| Citation | 178 Ga.App. 316,342 S.E.2d 786 |
| Parties | BROWN et al. v. PHILLIPS et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
William I. Sykes, Jr., Gainesville, for appellants.
Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., H. Perry Michael, First Asst. Atty. Gen., William C. Joy, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., David C. Will, Asst. Atty. Gen., Patricia Downing, Staff Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, and John A. Dickerson, Toccoa, for appellees.
Joyce and Edward Brown brought this personal injury action as individuals and as next friends of their minor son, Ray Kevin Brown (Kevin), against Mary Lynn Kimsey, an employee of the Union County Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS), and Pat and Suzie Phillips, Kevin's foster parents. The trial court directed a verdict in favor of all defendants. The Browns appeal.
The Juvenile Court of Union County found three of appellants' children, including Kevin, to be deprived and placed temporary custody of the children with the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR), acting through DFCS. DFCS placed Kevin in appellees Phillips' home and appellee Kimsey acted as Kevin's caseworker during his stay with the Phillips. Kevin was injured while he was in the care of the Phillips purportedly during two incidents involving one of the Phillips' children. In their complaint, appellants alleged negligence on the part of all appellees in allowing these incidents and the resulting injuries to occur. The trial court held that the Phillips were immune from liability in this action for alleged negligence on the basis of their position as persons standing in loco parentis toward Kevin, and that Kimsey was immune from liability on the basis of sovereign immunity.
1. Appellants contend the trial court erred when it directed a verdict in favor of the Phillips on the ground that they were acting in loco parentis toward Kevin. Where there is no conflict in the evidence as to any material issue and the evidence introduced, with all reasonable deductions therefrom, shall demand a particular verdict, such verdict shall be directed. OCGA § 9-11-50(a); Congleton v. Starlite Skate Center, 175 Ga.App. 438, 441, 333 S.E.2d 677 (1985). The record reveals that appellants' custodial rights in Kevin were severed by the juvenile court, and although DFCS retained legal custody of Kevin, it was the Phillips' responsibility, in their role as foster parents selected and approved by DFCS, to discharge the duties of the parental relationship by receiving Kevin into their home and caring for him as if he had been their own child. See Trotter v. Ashbaugh, 156 Ga.App. 130, 131(1), 274 S.E.2d 127 (1980). Although the Phillips were not the source of Kevin's financial support, it is uncontroverted that the duty to provide such support had evolved on DFCS which then channelled the support to Kevin through the Phillips.
Coleman v. Coleman, 157 Ga.App. 533, 278 S.E.2d 114 (1981). Trotter, supra at 131(1), 274 S.E.2d 127. "To allow [appellants] to sue under the facts of this case would violate the public policy of this state." Maddox v. Queen, 150 Ga.App. 408, 410, 257...
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...Ark. 424, 426, 720 S.W.2d 299, 300 (1986); Horton v. Reaves, 186 Colo. 149, 156, 526 P.2d 304, 308 (1974); Brown v. Phillips, 178 Ga.App. 316, 316-17, 342 S.E.2d 786, 787-88 (1986); Buffalo v. Buffalo, 441 N.E.2d 711, 712-14 (Ind.Ct.App.1982); Bondurant v. Bondurant, 386 So.2d 705, 706 (La.......
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Bendiburg v. Dempsey
...290 S.E.2d 34 (1982); Jefferson v. Griffin Spalding County Hospital Authority, 247 Ga. 86, 274 S.E.2d 457 (1981); Brown v. Phillips, 178 Ga.App. 316, 342 S.E.2d 786 (1986); In the Interest of D.S., 176 Ga.App. 482, 336 S.E.2d 358 (1985). Second, based apparently on the above observation, th......
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Nichol v. Stass
...allowing the assertion of parental immunity by foster parents (Mitchell v. Davis, 598 So.2d 801 (Ala.1992); Brown v. Phillips, 178 Ga.App. 316, 342 S.E.2d 786 (1986)), and other jurisdictions denying it (Mayberry v. Pryor, 422 Mich. 579, 374 N.W.2d 683 (1985)). We conclude that a limited fo......
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Commerce Bank v. Augsburger, 4-96-0291
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