## Facts

- Mindy Broadwell (age 8) and Justin Broadwell (age 6) were passengers in a pickup truck driven by their mother, Susan M. Holmes.
- The children’s parents were divorced, and Holmes had custody under the divorce decree.
- The complaint alleged Holmes negligently lost control of the vehicle, causing Mindy’s death and serious injuries to Justin.
- The children’s father, Mark Broadwell, sued on their behalf seeking wrongful-death damages for Mindy and personal-injury damages for Justin.
- The defendant asserted Tennessee’s parental-immunity doctrine barred negligence suits by unemancipated minor children against a parent.

## Issues

1. Whether Tennessee’s parental-immunity doctrine bars an unemancipated minor child’s claim against a parent for ordinary negligence in operating a motor vehicle.
2. Whether the parental-immunity doctrine should be limited to conduct connected to parental authority, supervision, care, or custody.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the dismissal and limited the parental-immunity doctrine.
- The Court held parental immunity does not bar an unemancipated minor’s claim against a parent for ordinary negligence in the operation of an automobile.
- The Court confined any remaining immunity to conduct involving parental authority, supervision, care, or custody.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings on the negligence claims.

## Legal Principles

- Parental immunity is a judge-made common-law doctrine subject to judicial modification.
- Tennessee parental immunity is limited to parental conduct tied to authority, supervision, care, or custody, rather than all parent-child tort claims.
- A parent’s ordinary negligence in driving is not a protected parental function and is governed by ordinary negligence standards, even when the injured party is the parent’s unemancipated child.
- Policy rationales traditionally offered for broad immunity (family harmony, parental discretion, and concerns about fraud/collusion) do not justify barring routine automobile-negligence claims as a categorical matter.

## Conclusion

Tennessee permits unemancipated minor children to sue a parent for ordinary automobile negligence, while retaining parental immunity only for claims arising from conduct closely connected to parental authority, supervision, care, or custody.


Broadwell v. Holmes, 871 S.W.2d 471 (Tenn. 1994)