Parental liability is a term that means a parent’s responsibility to pay damages resulting from their child’s criminal, negligent, or intentional acts. Parental responsibility ends when a child attains majority age and begins when a child is between 8 and 10 years old. Here, we will discuss car wrecks caused by teenagers and the parental responsibility laws affecting these offenses in Tennessee.
In Tennessee, it is illegal for a child who is under eighteen years to own a vehicle. The exception is if the child has been legally emancipated. Nearly all the vehicles operated by teenagers are registered under one of their parent’s names. In a majority of the lawsuits involving injuries sustained by a vehicle accident caused by a negligent teenager, the parents are named as the defendants in the lawsuit. Where the parents are not the owners of the vehicle their child was driving, the vehicle owner is named in the lawsuit. These cases result in damages amounting to thousands of dollars. In the event that the damages awarded exceed your limit of liability insurance, you will be held responsible for paying the extra portion of the damages.
The code holds that in any action brought for injury to property or persons resulting from the negligence of a driver, proof of the ownership of the vehicle will be deemed as prima facie evidence that the vehicle that caused the accident was being operated under the authority, knowledge, and consent of the owner. Proof of ownership shall also be deemed as prima facie evidence that the vehicle was being operated by its owner or the owner’s servant and for the benefit of the owner within the scope of their servant’s employment. The prima facie evidence concept also holds for cases where a vehicle is negligently test-driven by a prospective buyer with the consent and knowledge of the seller or the agent of the seller, regardless of whether the seller or their agent is in the vehicle at the time of the accident. To summarize this code, the proof of ownership of a vehicle is enough to render a vehicle owner responsible for any accident caused by the person operating their vehicle. In this case, if the parent of a teenager driver is the owner of a vehicle, their liability for any accident caused by the driver of the vehicle is legally established.
To safeguard yourself from being subjected to the Tennessee Code Annotated, §55-10-311,you should try adopting the following measures:
a) Let the parent with the least amount of financial assets be the one named as the vehicle’s owner. The reason for this strategy is to shield your family’s assets from being ceased in an accident involving a teenage driver.
b) Establish strict boundaries regarding circumstances under which your teenager may use your vehicle. For example, enter into an arrangement that your teenage driver should only operate your vehicle when driving to or from school, and is not allowed to operate it without your permission. If it can be proven that the teenager was involved in an accident after operating a vehicle without the owner’s or parent’s consent, the argument will be that the teenager was operating without the permission of the owner/ parent.
c) Purchase sufficient liability insurance. It may also be wise to buy general liability to secure your entire family. Ensure your minor children are named as one of the drivers under the policy.
Parental responsibility laws can be hard on a parent when their teenager causes significant property damages and body injuries when involved in a car accident. While the “Tennessee Code Annotated §55-10-311″ holds vehicle owners responsible for accidents caused by the drivers of their vehicles, you can easily reduce the consequences of this law through simple measures.
