Lavin v. Jordon

• Decision Date: 24 April 2000
• Docket Number: 97-00259
• Citation: 16 S.W.3d 362
• Parties: ADOLPH C. LAVIN, ET AL. v. ROSS JORDON, ET AL.IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

ADOLPH C. LAVIN, ET AL. v ROSS JORDON, ET AL.

No. M1997-00259-SC-R11-CV

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE

Decided April 24, 2000

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Davidson County No. 96C-1475

Hon. Barbara N. Haynes, Judge

FOR PUBLICATION

The nature of this appeal regards the amount of damages recoverable in an action against parents for the intentional damage caused by their children. More specifically, we granted this appeal to determine whether Tennessee Code Annotated section 37-10-103(a) represents a codification of the common law tort allowing unlimited damages, or whether section 37-10-103(a) merely sets forth the circumstances under which parents may be held liable and is therefore subject to the statutory cap on damages contained in section 37-10-102. For the reasons stated herein, we hold that the legislature intended for section 37-10-103(a) to set forth the basis of parental liability and not to provide for an independent cause of action. We further hold that the common law tort of negligent control and supervision of children, as recognized by Bocock v. Rose, 213 Tenn. 195, 373 S.W.2d 441 (1963), has been superseded by section 37-10-103 when the damage caused by the child was intentional or malicious. As such, any recovery against parents for the intentional or malicious harm caused by their children may not exceed $10,000 in addition to taxable court costs. We are constrained to reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Tenn. R. App. P. 11 Application for Permission to Appeal; Judgment of the Court of Appeals Reversed, Case Remanded to Davidson County Circuit Court.

John L. Norris, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellants, Ross Jordon, Susan Jordon, and Sean Jordon.

Charles R. Ray, Nashville, Tennessee; Jeffery S. Frensley, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellees, Adolph C. Lavin and Jean Lavin.

BARKER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ANDERSON, C.J., and DROWOTA and HOLDER, JJ., joined. Birch, J., filed a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

This case arises out of the shooting death of Troy Lavin, who was the son of the plaintiffs, Adolph and Jean Lavin. On June 29, 1995, Troy delivered a pizza to the Nashville home of the defendants, Ross and Susan Jordon. Shortly after his arrival at the defendants' house, Troy was killed by multiple shots from a .22 caliber rifle fired by Sean Jordon, the minor son of the defendants. Sean Jordon, who later pled guilty to second-degree murder, was previously unacquainted with Troy.

On April 18, 1996, the plaintiffs filed a complaint in the Davidson County Circuit Court alleging that the defendants were liable for the acts of their son pursuant to the common law tort of negligent supervision and Tennessee Code Annotated sections 37-10-101 and -103. More specifically, the complaint alleged that the defendants were negligent in failing to control and police Sean Jordon despite their knowledge that Sean possessed weapons. According to the complaint, the defendants were informed by Mrs. Frances Garrison that Sean broke into her home and stole several rifles and shotguns. The complaint also alleged that Susan Jordon later overheard a telephone conversation in which her son admitted to stealing the weapons from Mrs. Garrison and hiding them near his house. Sean Jordan later admitted that the .22 caliber rifle used to kill Troy Lavin was one of the weapons he stole from Mrs. Garrison.

The complaint further alleged that the defendants had knowledge that their son possessed a previous "history of assaultive, violent, anti-social criminal behavior," as evidenced by Sean having been previously declared a delinquent child for assaulting a minor and for assaulting and raping a school mate. The complaint also alleged that even though the defendants knew that Sean aspired to be a "gangster" and that he was actively associated with a violent gang, they nevertheless failed to take steps to fully investigate the theft of the weapons or to reasonably control their son. The plaintiffs sought compensatory and punitive damages in the amount of two-million dollars ($2,000,000.00).

On June 25, 1997, the defendants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings arguing that according to Tennessee Code Annotated sections 37-10-101, -102, and -103 , the maximum potential liability of the defendants was $10,000. After a hearing, the trial court granted the defendant's motion and held that the plaintiffs' recovery was limited to $10,000. The plaintiffs then filed a motion for interlocutory appeal, which was granted by the trial court and by the Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the trial court and held that the plaintiffs had stated a "common law cause of action against the parents of Sean Jordon to which the limiting statute is inapplicable." The Court of Appeals stated that while damages awarded pursuant to the parental liability statute were capped at ten-thousand dollars, the common-law cause of action for the same tort was unaffected by the statute and permitted the parents to seek full recovery. The defendants then sought appeal to this Court arguing that sections 37-10-101, -102, and -103 limited the defendants' liability for all claims of negligent control and supervision of minor children to the plaintiffs' actual damages not exceeding $10,000. We agree and hold that the common law tort of negligent control and supervision of minor children has been superseded by statute where the acts of the child are intentional or malicious, and we therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

STANDARD OF APPELLATE REVIEW

Because this case was dismissed on a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 12.03, all well-pleaded facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom must be accepted as true. See McClenahan v. Cooley, 806 S.W.2d 767, 769 (Tenn. 1991). As such, the issue before this Court is whether Tennessee Code Annotated sections 37-10-101, -102, and -103 operate to limit the plaintiff's potential recovery in this case. Id. Construction of a statute and its application to the facts of the case is an issue of law, see Ganzevoort v. Russell, 949 S.W.2d 293, 296 (Tenn. 1997), and our standard of review, therefore, is de novo without any presumption of correctness given to the trial court's conclusions of law. See, e.g., Union Carbide Corp. v. Huddleston, 854 S.W.2d 87, 91 (Tenn. 1993).

ANALYSIS

Because resolution of this case turns upon the construction given to the parental liability statutes, it is necessary to start our analysis with a review of these statutes. The current text of these statutes is as follows:

37-10-101. Recovery for injury or damage by juvenile. -

Any municipal corporation, county, town, village, school district or department of this state, or any person, or any religious organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated, shall be entitled to recover damages in an action in assumpsit in an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in a court of competent jurisdiction from the parents or guardian of the person of any minor under eighteen (18) years of age, living with the parents or guardian of the person, who maliciously or willfully causes personal injury to such person or destroys property, real, personal or mixed, belonging to such municipal corporation, county, township, village, school district or department of this state or persons or religious organizations.

37-10-102. Limitation on amount of recovery. -

The recovery shall be limited to the actual damages in an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in addition to taxable court costs.

37-10-103. Circumstances under which parent or guardian liable. -

(a) A parent or guardian shall be liable for the tortious activities of a minor child that cause injuries to persons or property where the parent or guardian knows, or should know, of the child's tendency to commit wrongful acts which can be expected to cause injury to persons or property and where the parent or guardian has an opportunity to control the child but fails to exercise reasonable means to restrain the tortious conduct.

(b) A parent or guardian shall be presumed to know of a child's tendency to commit wrongful acts, if the child has previously been charged and found responsible for such actions.

Tenn. Code Ann. 37-10-101 to -103 (1996 & Supp. 1999).

I.

The plaintiffs first argue that section 37-10-103 represents a codification of the common law tort of negligent control and supervision of children and that any action commenced under this section is not subject to the statutory cap on damages in section 37-10-102. The defendants, however, argue that section -103 is not an independent cause of action and that the section only serves to set forth the circumstances under which a parent may be held liable for the acts of their children as provided in section 37-10-101. According to this interpretation, the section -102 cap on damages would apply to limit the amount of any recovery.

When construing or interpreting statutes, the "essential duty" of this Court is "to ascertain and carry out the legislature's intent without unduly restricting or expanding a statute's coverage beyond its intended scope." See, e.g., Premium Fin. Corp. of Am. v. Crump Ins. Servs. of Memphis, Inc., 978 S.W.2d 91, 93 (Tenn. 1998). In so doing, we are to examine the "natural and ordinary meaning of the language used, without a forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language." See, e.g., Tuggle v. Allright Parking Sys., Inc., 922 S.W.2d 105, 107 (Tenn. 1996). Where the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous, then this Court will give effect to the statute according to the plain meaning of its terms. See State ex rel. Earhart v. City of Bristol, 970 S.W.2d 948, 951 (Tenn. 1998).

After a...