The answer to this question often depends on whether Georgia’s Family Purpose Doctrine applies. Parents are not automatically liable for wrecks caused by their children. However, there are some situations where a parent can be liable for a wreck caused by his or her child. Under the family purpose doctrine, when an automobile owner maintains a vehicle for the use and convenience of his family, the owner is liable for the negligence of a member of the family having authority to drive the vehicle while it is being used for a family purpose. Gaither v. Sanders, 259 Ga. App. 810 (2003).
When do courts apply the family purpose doctrine?
Four requirements must be met for the owner to be liable under the family purpose doctrine:
1. The owner must have given permission to a family member to drive the vehicle;
2. The owner must have relinquished control of the vehicle to the family member;
3. The family member must be in the vehicle at the time of the wreck; and
4. The vehicle must be engaged in a family purpose.
If all of these requirements are met, “The doctrine is then applied to render the defendant vicariously liable if he had the right to exercise such authority and control that it may be concluded that an agency relationship existed between him and the family member with respect to the use of the vehicle. In other words, the four conditions prescribe when the test is to be applied, but the actual test is authority and control.” Murch v. Brown, 166 Ga. App. 538, 539 (1983).
The true test is authority and control.
Georgia courts use the authority and control element as the main factor in determining whether liability attaches under the family purpose doctrine. Georgia Automobile Insurance Law, § 47:4 (2013-2014 ed). For example, if a parent purchases a vehicle for their child, puts title to the vehicle in their child’s name, does not restrict the child’s use of the vehicle, and the child is responsible for fueling the vehicle and paying insurance premiums, the family purpose doctrine will probably not apply. However, if a child lives at home and the parents retain discretion to suspend the child’s driving privileges, the family purpose doctrine should apply. The doctrine applies even when a child disobeys the parent and allows a friend to drive (assuming the child remains in the car when his or her friend causes a wreck). See Phillips v. Dixon, 236 Ga. 271 (1976).
