When can parents in Illinois be held legally responsible for personal injury and other harm caused by their children? Like a lot of states, Illinois has passed a "parental responsibility law" that can apply in these situations. In this article, we'll cover the specifics of this Illinois law, and explain other legal theories that might be used to hold parents liable for harm caused by their minor children.
A set of rules in the Illinois Compiled Statutes, starting at 740 ILCS 115 and commonly referred to as the Illinois "Parental Responsibility Law" gives potential liability to parents and "legal guardians" when their minor child causes certain kinds of damage or harm.
Let's take a closer look at some of the key components of this law.
For purposes of the statute:
The law makes clear that a "minor" is a person who:
So, parents and legal guardians can still be on the legal hook for a child's actions even after the child is 18 (until the child's 19th birthday, to be exact), and there's a legal gray area for children under 11 years of age: The state's Parental Responsibility Law doesn't specifically apply in that situation, but the parent or guardian may still be legally responsible for the child's actions under traditional fault and liability principles (more on these later).
Parents and legal guardians are not automatically liable for injuries and other losses ("damages" in the language of the law) every time their child causes harm to someone else. In fact, the Illinois Parental Responsibility Law doesn't hold parents liable for most true "accidents" in which the minor was at fault but was merely negligent.
Instead, the law only creates parental and guardian liability for the "willful" or "malicious" acts of a minor when that conduct causes injury to another person or to someone else's property
So, the minor's conduct must have been intentional, to some extent. That means liability won't usually extend to parents when a minor causes an injury or some other harm due to carelessness or negligence, assuming the minor didn't intend to cause injury or damage. Learn more about how negligence works in injury cases.
It's important to note that, under the Illinois Parental Responsibility Law, parents or legal guardians are only liable for "actual damages" caused by the minor's conduct —that means compensation will be limited to expenses like:
It also means that the parent or legal guardian isn't liable for non-economic damages like "pain and suffering," which can really add up in a typical personal injury claim. But keep in mind that pain and suffering damages would be on the table if the parents were to be held liable outside of this Illinois statute (more on this later).
The statute also makes clear that, when a plaintiff is successful in a lawsuit against a parent or legal guardian under the Illinois Parental Responsibility Law, the plaintiff may be awarded "reasonable" attorney's fees, meaning that the parent or legal guardian could be ordered to reimburse the plaintiff for any money paid for legal services in connection with the lawsuit.
Yes. 740 ILCS 115/5 places a financial limit on parental liability, saying that it can't exceed:
The Illinois Parental Responsibility Law specifically states that it's intended to limit the potential liability of parents for their child's actions—or limit the recovery of damages by an injured party—"in any other cause of action where the liability of the parent or legal guardian is predicated on a common law basis." We touched on this earlier, and this language of the statute means that a parent or legal guardian may still be legally responsible for a child's actions under traditional civil fault principles (that's what "common law" refers to here).
In other words, parents who know of a child's tendency to act recklessly or carelessly may be under a general legal obligation to take reasonable steps to prevent that child from causing foreseeable harm to others.
So, if a parent knows that their child has a habit of texting while driving—let's say a 17 year-old has racked up four traffic citations for "distracted driving" in less than one year—and the child ends up causing a car accident while sending a text message, then the parent could be considered negligent for still allowing the child to drive without any restrictions (taking their phone away, for example). And that liability could arise in Illinois even under circumstances in which the state's Parental Responsibility Law doesn't apply.
Note that in the scenario mentioned above, the parent's car insurance policy will likely cover any accident caused by the teen driver (unless they've been specifically excluded from the policy). So, the insurance company will absorb at least some amount of financial responsibility for losses suffered by others (like injuries and vehicle damage) in an accident caused by the teen driver. Learn more about what drivers and vehicles are covered by car insurance, and parents' liability for a teen driver's car accident.
In addition to the "willful or malicious acts" discussed above, when a minor commits the criminal offense of "retail theft" or shoplifting, 720 ILCS 5/16-27 makes a parent or legal guardian civilly liable for:
If you're facing (or thinking of bringing) an injury-related case under Illinois laws on parental responsibility, you might want to discuss your situation (and your options) with an experienced legal professional. Get tips on hiring and working with a lawyer.