OLYMPIA — Stepparents can be shielded from lawsuits over negligent child supervision, but only if they’re taking on the same responsibilities as a lawful parent, the state Supreme Court said Thursday.
The court’s 6-3 ruling broadens a legal doctrine known as parental immunity, which holds that parents usually can’t be sued for injuries to their child unless the parent is recklessly or willfully negligent.
Simply being married to a child’s parent isn’t enough to qualify for immunity — stepparents can only be protected from civil suits if they’re acting like a full-fledged mom or dad, the court said.
“We agree with those courts that find no principled distinction between a legal parent and a stepparent who assumes all the obligations and exercises all the responsibilities of parenthood,” Justice Barbara Madsen wrote for the court.
To determine whether a stepparent qualifies for immunity, courts should weigh the evidence about a stepparent and child’s relationship, the Supreme Court said.
The trial court and state Court of Appeals wanted to avoid such fact-finding inquiries.
But the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling those difficult questions about the degree of parental responsibility must be weighed “to ensure the application of parental immunity does not unjustly deprive a child of the right to seek legal redress.”
The case in question revolves around the 2003 drowning death of Ashley McLellan, 3. Her mother, Stacey Ferguson, was newly married to Joel Zellmer, and the three lived together in Zellmer’s house. On the day she died, Ashley was home sick from school, being watched by Zellmer while her mother worked.
Ferguson and Ashley’s biological father, Bruce McLellan, sued Zellmer for wrongful death. But Zellmer won a summary judgment in King County Superior Court, which found that he was protected under parental immunity by virtue of his marriage to Ashley’s mother, even though the degree of his support for the girl was in dispute.
Ferguson and McLellan appealed, and asked the Supreme Court to either abolish parental immunity, make an exception in cases of a child’s death, or restrict the doctrine from applying to stepparents.
The court denied all three requests.
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