## Facts

- Clinton Patterson Cole, a 16-year-old minor, lived with his father, John Cole, and stepmother, Tara Cole.
- A dispute arose over Clinton’s failure to perform household chores.
- The complaint alleged John Cole repeatedly struck Clinton in the chest and then held him on the ground in a choke hold while Tara Cole sprayed Clinton in the face with water from a garden hose.
- Clinton died during the altercation.
- Anna Belle Newman, as personal representative of Clinton’s estate, sued the Coles for wrongful death, alleging negligence, wantonness, and willful and intentional conduct.

## Issues

1. Whether Alabama should abolish the parental-immunity doctrine barring tort suits by unemancipated minor children against their parents.
2. If not abolished, whether parental immunity should include an exception for a wrongful-death claim alleging a parent’s willful and intentional conduct caused the child’s death.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama declined to abolish parental immunity as a general rule.
- The Court recognized a new, limited exception: parental immunity does not bar a wrongful-death action where a parent’s willful and intentional injury caused the child’s death.
- The Court required proof by clear and convincing evidence for claims within this exception.
- The dismissal based on parental immunity was reversed to the extent it barred the willful-and-intentional wrongful-death theory, and the case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the exception.

## Legal Principles

- In Alabama, parental immunity generally bars civil suits by unemancipated minor children against their parents for parental torts, subject to limited judicially created exceptions.
- Because parental immunity is a court-created common-law doctrine, the Supreme Court may modify it when its justifications are not served.
- The doctrine’s rationales (family tranquility and parental authority in childrearing and discipline) carry reduced weight when the child has died.
- Parental immunity does not shield a parent from wrongful-death liability when the parent’s willful and intentional injury causes the child’s death, provided the claim is proven by clear and convincing evidence.
- The exception is limited; it does not open the door to negligence or wantonness claims arising from ordinary parenting or discipline decisions.

## Conclusion

Alabama retained parental immunity as the default rule but created a narrow exception allowing a deceased child’s estate to pursue wrongful-death claims against a parent for willful and intentional injury causing death, subject to a clear-and-convincing evidentiary standard.


Newman v. Cole, 872 So. 2d 138 (Ala. 2003)