## Facts

- Farm employers (the Armstrongs) induced a mother’s unemancipated minor son to leave Alabama to work in Maryland as a migrant farm laborer.
- The mother did not consent to the child’s departure.
- While in Maryland, the minor drowned while swimming during recreational time.
- The mother sued for damages based on the wrongful taking/enticement, seeking compensation including (i) loss of the child’s services and society and (ii) expenses to return the body and for funeral and burial.
- The jury awarded damages for the transportation of the body and funeral/burial expenses, but did not award damages for loss of services and society.

## Issues

1. Whether a parent may recover damages for wrongful inducement/taking of an unmarried minor child from parental custody without proving the defendant’s negligence caused the child’s accidental death.
2. Whether funeral and body-transport expenses may be awarded as damages proximately resulting from the wrongful interference with parental custody and services.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the judgment for the mother.
- The court rejected the defendants’ argument that recovery failed because the mother neither alleged nor proved negligence regarding the drowning.
- The court treated the wrongful inducement/taking from parental custody as an actionable tort, and held the awarded pecuniary losses were recoverable as a natural and proximate result of that interference.

## Legal Principles

- A parent has a legally protected interest in the custody and expected services of an unmarried, unemancipated minor child; wrongful interference with that relationship supports a tort claim.
- Liability may rest on the wrongful taking/enticement itself, distinct from any negligence-based claim for causing physical injury or death.
- A parent may recover out-of-pocket losses proximately caused by the wrongful interference, including reasonable expenses to return the child’s body and funeral/burial costs, even if the child’s death was accidental and not shown to be caused by the defendant’s negligence.
- Damages must be supported by evidence and be reasonably traceable to the wrongful interference; the jury may limit recovery to proven pecuniary expenses.

## Conclusion

The court held that wrongful inducement of a minor away from a parent’s custody can support recovery of funeral and body-transport expenses as proximately caused pecuniary damages, without requiring proof that the defendant negligently caused the child’s accidental drowning.


Armstrong v. McDonald, 39 Ala. App. 485, 103 So. 2d 818 (Ala. Ct. App. 1958)