005 Teen Drivers and Car Seat Safety Part I

 

0:00                 ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers In The House with Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do! Here’s your host, Veronica Waters.

 

0:19                 VERONICA: Here in the United States, parents are responsible for a number of things. They are responsible for their children’s food, their children’s shelter, their children’s housing, their children’s clothing. And they’re also responsible for their children’s safety.

0:34                 Taking on that duty and heart bound feeling to protect your kids from harm. But sometimes parents find themselves responsible for stuff they never saw coming. Or should they have seen it coming? Welcome and come on in to Lawyers In The House with Montlick on WSB. I’m your host, Veronica Waters. And today parental liability is the name of the game.

1:03                 We’re gonna dig into it, find out exactly what it is and how it might affect your family. As always, I am joined with some amazing legal minds. In the chairs next to me, we have got eagle number one, Michael Rubin.

 

MICHAEL: Thank you.

 

VERONICA: This effervescent guy inspired to go into the law by his grandfather who was a lawyer for how many years? How many years?

 

MICHAEL: I mean, he practiced probably 55 to 60 years.

 

VERONICA: 55 to 60 years, and going through Charleston and watching how everybody

looked up to his granddad, he knew he wanted to be a part of that. And if he’s not fighting for his clients where he is known to never ever, ever give up, you can find him on all manner of trek or trail or court or pool bringing that same sort of never-give-up attitude to every game in competition. Eagle number two is Orlando Mara who comes to us by way of – well, should I say that you came to us by way of Buffalo?

 

ORLANDO: You could, sure.

 

2:09                 VERONICA: And from what I hear also gives Michael quite a challenge on the racquetball court. Orlando has got more than 30 years’ experience with the law. And in that time his clients have come to know him for the care and the compassion and the insight

that he brings to his cases.

 

ORLANDO: Thank you.

 

VERONICA: And a way to find resolutions for them in ways that really, really matter. And he’s always driven by this belief that it’s never the wrong time to do the right thing. He is a devout Buffalo Bills fan. So not everyone is perfect.

 

2:44                 ORLANDO: Depends on how you look at that, but it’s true.

 

VERONICA: All right. So Orlando and Michael, thank you so much for being in the house.

 

2:51                 MICHAEL: You’re welcome. It’s our pleasure.

 

ORLANDO: Thank you. Yes, it’s great to be here.

 

VERONICA: So again, we’re talking about parental liability, right? And I’m not a parent. Not even a doggy parent right now, but… and I don’t know if this would apply…. Maybe we need to talk about pups, right? And kiddies. But-

 

ORLANDO: It can.

 

VERONICA: Really? What exactly is parental liability, Michael?

 

3:11                 MICHAEL: Well, I mean, I think that you really have to break it down that your children are your responsibility until they’re 18 years old. Assuming they’re in your household. And as a parent, you have some duty to make sure that your children aren’t going out there and wreaking havoc. So essentially what it means is if your children are out and they do something – and really it comes down to whether they’re doing something for the family or for you. So as a parent, if you are sending your child to do something for you and they act in an inappropriate fashion, then you as a parent could be liable for their actions because they were doing it under the purpose of the family- helping the family out.

 

3:55                 VERONICA: Right. Let me back up a little bit too, ’cause I feel like that’s getting into maybe something a little more specific that has really already got the gears in my head going.

 

4:07                 MICHAEL: Sure.

 

VERONICA: But give me an example of, like, a parental liability case when somebody might be on the hook for something. What are you talking about?

 

MICHAEL: Well, sure. So I mean, there’s the easiest one to remember, or to come up with, is a car wreck.

 

VERONICA: Okay.

 

MICHAEL: Where you have a child who is, you know, obviously able to drive and has their driver’s license. So the law and the state has said, “they’re capable of doing this,” but they’re using the vehicle to go to the grocery store or to go to, let’s say, swim practice. But if they didn’t drive the vehicle to go to swim practice, mom or dad would have to drive them. So it’s still a family purpose. So the law can, you know, be somewhat broad. But if they’re, you know, using the vehicle in that fashion and they were to somehow cause an accident, then not only would you as the driver (the teenager) be responsible, but your parents could also be responsible under the Family Purpose Doctrine because they were doing something for the family.

 

5:07                 VERONICA: For the family. Which is taking the burden off of mom or dad to take me to swim practice. What if it’s my own car, though? And I just wanna drive. I mean, does that…? It sounds like you’re sort of making the argument that mom or dad should always take junior to swim practice.

 

5:21                 MICHAEL: No, no, no, no.

 

VERONICA: Okay.

 

MICHAEL: So and I mean, obviously it’s okay to take your kids to swim practice and spend the time with them. And I think that gets to another issue. You know, being with your kids and watching them is really important just to make sure that you know what’s going on. So you have an understanding, and because when you let a child or anybody operate a motor vehicle, it’s essentially a weapon- a missile that’s driving down these roads and can cause you know, unimaginable harm. So you really have to make sure that they’re responsible enough to do that and keep an eye on them. As far as the family purpose, you don’t have to wa – You have insurance. There’s a car. So we’re talking about this situation with a car. And you’ll most likely have insurance, and that insurance will cover what happened. So most of the time it’s really this parental liability in a car isn’t really going to matter because as a driver, you would be insured. Families should be on the policy listed (or you’re gonna be what’s called a permissive user), but there’s lots of ways that you would be attached to that policy.

 

VERONICA: To that policy itself. Okay.

 

6:33                 MICHAEL: That’s correct.

 

VERONICA: Orlando, tell me about exactly how we see this play out year after year and case after case. Like, is there something that really makes the phones ring most often?

 

6:44                 ORLANDO: Well, as far as the parental reliability goes, I think that like Michael was saying if the parent is responsible and they’re keeping an eye on everything, then you’re covered. You’re in there. And you get a lot of calls about that, where people will ask, you know, if the minor, you know, is in an accident, caused an accident, are the parents responsible? And I think overall, generally speaking, there’s insurance on the vehicle and that pretty much covers the situation. So there is issues, but we always wanna look into and investigate is there other liability? Is there vicarious liability available?

 

VERONICA: So- there may be, or may not be?

 

ORLANDO: Correct.

 

7:24                 VERONICA: It really does depend on the actual-

 

ORLANDO: It depends on the facts -correct- of the case. They’re fact-specific, you know? And that’s why it’s important to call us and talk about it. Because once we know more about the facts, we could make a decision or even investigate it further, depending upon the overall situation.

 

7:43                 VERONICA: So what’s an example of…? I like this car wreck example because it’s like, I think everybody can imagine there’s a teenager behind the wheel. Some of us are terrified. Right.

 

ORLANDO AND MICHAEL: Right.

 

7:55                 VERONICA: And Georgia has laws about what kids can and cannot do when you get your learner’s permit. When you first get your license. I guess I’m not sure how long that…. You guys are both dads. You have teenagers that drive?

 

ORLANDO:  Correct.

 

8:05                 VERONICA: What is that thing? You can only have, like, one person in the car.

 

ORLANDO: Right. They start with the Class D license, initially. And then I think the first six months… and then specifically I don’t know – but generally speaking the first six months, I think you’re only allowed to have a relative in the vehicle with you. And in the second six months, I think you’re – you can get into some… I’m not sure.

 

MICHAEL: It’s essentially-

 

ORLANDO: Go ahead.

 

MICHAEL: -a graduated scale in terms –

 

VERONICA: For how many people and who-

 

8:33                 MICHAEL: Yes.

 

VERONICA: -can be in the car with you.

 

MICHAEL: Exactly.

 

VERONICA: So if your teenager, your senior in high school is still on that graduated level. Right?

 

ORLANDO AND MICHAEL: Right.

 

VERONICA: And they’re only supposed to have one person in the car.

 

MICHAEL: Right.

 

VERONICA: But they had three.

 

MICHAEL: Right.

8:47                 VERONICA: And they were, like, partying. They were rocking out, you know, to some Dua Lipa or whatever.

 

MICHAEL: Yep.

 

VERONICA: And then it’s, like, boom – accident.

 

8:53                 MICHAEL: Right.

 

VERONICA: Are you responsible?

 

MICHAEL: Well, your insurance is gonna cover that wreck because they had permissive use. And essentially, when you’re talking about how many people you can have in your car, that’s more of the criminal code – the criminal side of it – that they would get a ticket and be cited probably for having more people in there. And they may lose their license. So there’s a lot of different things that can happen from the criminal side of it. But from the civil side of it, it’s just they’re passengers in a vehicle. So they would have a claim against any negligent party that caused their injury, whether it be the driver of the car they were in or another vehicle that hit them. So they would have a claim no matter what. So it really doesn’t matter as much on the civil side, which is what we handle – in terms of, you know, trying to get help for your kids that were in a car. Let’s say it was one of your children that were the passengers. They would still have a claim. Everyone would be covered.

 

VERONICA: So who, give me an example, Orlando of a case like this,

9:57                 a clear-cut case that you’ve had, you know, where parental liability really was at issue.

 

10:05                ORLANDO: Well, it really depends on again, fact-specific. I mean, what you’re trying to do overall is get some kind of vicarious liability or third party which means, in effect, a party other than the party that was at fault in the accident.

 

VERONICA: So have you had a case where you helped somebody with an issue exactly like that?

 

10:29                ORLANDO: I dunno, specifically. Michael, do you have anything?

 

MICHAEL: Yeah. I mean, I’ve had one that actually stands out, and it’s kind of in this situation. It was an unfortunate case where a young lady – she was 18 years old – was riding as a passenger in her boyfriend’s vehicle. And it was… I think it was a Ford Taurus. This was years ago. And the boyfriend went to reach for a soda and lost control and hit a tree. And she ended up… the passenger ended up in a coma, and she was pregnant at the time. So she was in a coma and at Shepherd Center for quite some time. And I mean, this case had a major effect on me just in visiting and talking with the family. But she was in a coma, pregnant the whole time. And, you know, I was with her when she spoke her first words,

11:22                I happened to be there. So it was really compelling and just watching the physical therapy. But we started to investigate this case and realized that, her boyfriend was also younger and living at home and he was driving the parent’s car. And fortunately for my client – again, this gets back to insurance – it happened to be a company vehicle. So, the parent has a company vehicle like a lot of people do.

 

VERONICA: Yeah.

 

MICHAEL: They bring their company vehicle home.

 

VERONICA: Right.

 

MICHAEL: They park it in their garage and, you know, companies have different policies; but whatever may happen, they drive the car. And if they cause a wreck that company

12:04                and the parents are both gonna be liable. In this case, we were able to get a recovery from not only the personal insurance, but also the insurance for the vehicle that was commercial…

 

VERONICA: Okay.

 

MICHAEL: …for the client to try and get a good recovery. And the best part about it was that she ended up, you know, being able to speak and walk and she gave birth and the child was healthy…

 

VERONICA: That’s fantastic!

 

MICHAEL: ..through all this time. I know it’s amazing.

 

VERONICA: It’s a happy ending on all fronts.

 

12:29                MICHAEL: Yes. Yes.

 

VERONICA: But it makes me wonder then, Orlando, what you have to do as a parent to actually make sure that you’re protected in a situation like that.

 

ORLANDO: Well, the best thing you do is be insured. You know, make sure that you, like we talked about, have insurance. I think that’s the key. There are other things, too. For example, you can get an umbrella policy for your family. In other words, even something as out of the realm as -people would think- if your child goes and is babysitting for a neighbor and something should happen. You could be covered by this policy. And that’s the one thing I would suggest is important. To that extent, even to a lesser degree, I think uninsured motors coverage. People don’t realize that’s the one coverage you buy for yourself or you buy for your family. And if the person who happens to cause the accident is uninsured or underinsured, then this is a way of protecting you and your family against anything like that that should happen.

 

VERONICA: All right. That is some helpful stuff. We’re gonna be right around the corner with some good nuggets still to come. Like what happens when you leave your kid home alone? This is Lawyers In The House with Montlick on WSB.

 

 

13:42                VERONICA: And welcome back to Lawyers In The House with Montlick. I’m your host, Veronica Waters. We are here with Michael Rubin, President of the Wooing Pretty Girls who Brought Me Cookies Fan Club, and Orlando Mara, President of the Frank Wycheck Fan club. Thank you so much. Music City.

 

13:59                MICHAEL: I like Frank Wycheck. He went to Maryland.

 

VERONICA: Okay. So, we’re talking about parental liability today, guys. And as a refresher I’m not a parent; but I am cool auntie, right? So at what ages are we as parents or guardians or whatever, when am I responsible for this kid?

 

MICHAEL: I mean, you’re responsible from birth, essentially.

 

14:21                VERONICA: Liable. Liable! When am I liable?

 

ORLANDO: For their whole life. It never ends.

 

VERONICA: Not responsible. All right. Like stop, rewind. When are we liable? When is a parent liable?

 

MICHAEL: I think that essentially you’re liable from, I mean, still almost the same answer. I mean, obviously a younger child, you know -they’re an infant or a 1, 2, 3, 4-year-old- can’t really understand right or wrong necessarily. Or can’t form intent to do something that would be considered wrong. So at those ages, as a parent still, you would have to be responsible that two-year-old – if you leave a box of matches or a lighter next to that child.

 

VERONICA: Yeah. So if your kid is playing with matches and lights a neighbor’s house on fire – I mean like, are you responsible for that? You know, when does the parental liability end? Does it end when they’re a teenager? Does it end when they’re 21?

 

ORLANDO: I don’t know if, like I said – I dunno if it really ever ends. But I think 18,

15:17                you become an adult. And I think the thing with the younger children, maybe driving a little bit is – There’s an old theory called Attractive Nuisance. If you leave things around and they get to it… and I hate to say that the one example (which unfortunately happens a lot) is the guns. If a child stumbles upon a gun… A five-year-old has no idea, you know, what exactly it is or how to use it. Or they’re playing with each other. I mean, that’s the thing I think is relevant, too, more than anything. When you see that kind of thing – where you’re leaving something out there that they can get a hold of. Matches is another good example. I mean, to lesser… or a lighter or anything. And then to that extent, I think that, you know, there is some liability there for sure.

 

VERONICA: I think you make an amazingly good point because I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve covered when we talk about a child who got a hold of a gun. And sometimes it’s an injury; but sometimes it is fatal and it’s heartbreaking. And people are like, “Well, are the parents gonna be charged?”

16:20                But it’s curious to know, maybe we should be talking about whether there’s civil liability there as well.

 

16:26                MICHAEL: Yeah, there absolutely is.

 

VERONICA: It’s definitely something that we need to talk about. All right. We are on Lawyers In The House with Motley on WSB. Still to come – when parents need to pull out their crystal ball. We’re gonna hit that up. And don’t forget, we’ve got a nugget that you’re gonna tune in for every single week. Little stuff that you take home with you every week. If you hear nothing else, this is what you’re gonna remember for the next seven days. Montlick. Lawyers In The House. I’m Veronica.

 

16:57                VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers In The House with Montlick on WSB. I’m your host, Veronica Waters, here with two amazing guys who are teaching me a lot about parental liability, which is our topic of the day. Legal Eagles from Montlick, these dynamic guys, Orlando Mara, Michael Rubin. Thanks again for being in the house and giving us this education that we need. I’m learning so much. I think being a parent is so daunting. And my friend, Melinda was saying – It just feels like seconds ago. She was talking about how when you are expecting  – what to expect when you’re expecting. You’re thinking about baby clothes and nursery colors and, you know, your kid’s first steps and the kids’ first soccer game and where are they gonna go to college, you know?

17:46                What’s the right preschool or whatever. You’re not thinking about the fact that, hey, I might find myself on the civil or the legal hook for something that this adorable kid of mine who can do no wrong suddenly did wrong, you know? So, I think it’s an important topic that parents need to delve into. For that, I want to ask about when parents really kind of need to think about this. By that, I mean, Michael, you said a little bitty kid can’t form intent, but I really don’t believe that a teenager’s out there driving on the road with the intent that I’m gonna get in an accident either, right?

 

18:23                MICHAEL: Agree.

 

ORLANDO: Right.

 

VERONICA: So we know stuff happens outside. What about what happens in the house?

 

18:32                MICHAEL: It’s actually quite -as a parent and I have three children- it’s a dilemma. It’s a problem because your kids are growing up and going through the same things that presumably you did, and they want to express themselves. But as a parent, you have to make sure they’re expressing themselves in a proper manner. They’re not doing something that they could get hurt or someone else could get hurt. But inside your home, your liability is pretty much a given. If someone’s in your house and something bad happens and it’s due to the fact that you either failed to do something or you negligently did something, then you are gonna be responsible for that injury. So that being said, if your child has a friend over and there’s alcohol in the house and they get drunk and that friend gets sick and something, you know, bad happens, there’s the potential as a parent that you would be liable for that because that alcohol was available.

 

VERONICA: So, okay, this is what I mean by… I wanted to say, when should a parent know to bring out that crystal ball? Should parents have a crystal ball?

19:47                I have a friend who shall remain nameless, but who said to me, “Listen, I think that it’s safer for my kid to drink at home rather than be running the streets at all hours of the night. At least I know where they are. They’re in the house. If their friends come over, you know, I’m here.” It’s basically like, I’m here. I mean, are you saying…? It’s maybe worth a tiny, tiny mention here that there is like this little section of Georgia law that says parents can let their kids drink at home. You know, the parameters are very specific, but I think a parent could – I’ve seen it happen – use that to say, well, that means it doesn’t have to be necessarily medicinal or religious. I’m just gonna let my kid drink because they’re in the safety of my home. What’s wrong with that idea?

 

20:37                ORLANDO: Well, I think first of all, you have to be aware that… I mean, you’re not allowed to drink until you’re 21 in this state. Period, you know? And so that should be an overlying concern for parents, and they should communicate that to their children.

I mean, communication is a key anyway for children. And we always try to stress that. I know there is some ability to let your child drink under 21 in the home, like you said, for certain purposes. But I think again, it just has to go to responsibility and the fact that you can’t leave things available to them that could be a problem. You-

 

VERONICA: Well, what do you mean available, though? Orlando, I mean, if I’m going out on a date and, you know, my hubby and I are going out on a date – we’ve got date night – we’re leaving our teenager at home…. Am I supposed to pack up…? I mean, it’s not a BYOB restaurant I’m going to. Am I supposed to pack up my bourbon and my wine and take it with us? You know, why can’t I just leave it in the house?

 

21:34                MICHAEL:  Yeah, I don’t think you can just leave it. I mean, again, this is more fact-specific. So your kid is, you know, five years old and with a babysitter, I don’t think you need to lock up your liquor or make sure it’s not accessible. But you have a 15, 16 year old in high school and they’re home for a period of time, and you know, they’ve tried… Let’s say, you know, as a parent, they’ve tried alcohol before. Like, you know that it’s a part of their social life that they’ve tried. They may be not getting drunk or partying, but you know it’s a part of their social life.

 

VERONICA: They’re experimenting.

 

MICHAEL: Right.

 

VERONICA: It happens.

 

MICHAEL: So if you know that’s happening, then there is, I mean, you’re taking a chance, right? Like, I mean, first of all, as a parent, you should be thinking about the safety of your children. Well, can they handle this? I mean, if they have this alcohol, are they gonna drink too much? So as a parent, I mean, your first concern should be safety of your own child in terms of can they handle, you know, what’s there.

22:29                But besides that fact, if you leave it and you know they have access to it and something bad happens, not only are you gonna feel horrible, but how do you know that they didn’t have invite a friend over or somebody else? And they’re all getting into the liquor cabinet?

 

VERONICA: What if the- I’m sorry. Go ahead.

 

ORLANDO: What we’re going to is availability and reasonableness. You know, I think if it’s available to them and you know it’s available…. If it’s, you know, you have it on the bottom shelf and it’s available and they’re aware it’s there, that’s probably not a good idea.

 

MICHAEL: Or maybe a stacked bar, you know…

 

ORLANDO: Right. Exactly.

 

23:02                MICHAEL: Sitting in the living room with, you know, decanters and a wine cellar.

 

ORLANDO: I wouldn’t know anything about that. But yeah, that could happen, I understand. But the availability, I think, is key. And in knowing your child too. Knowing what- You know, I think communication – Again, I had mentioned that before is important, but also knowing: Who is your child? And what are they capable of? And do they listen to you? Do they not? I mean, is it something that you’re aware of? And then the reasonableness of it, too. You mentioned, at what point…? Do we not go out on a date?

23:29                Do we have to bring everything with us? I think reasonableness is a key as well. I mean, reasonableness is always.… it comes and goes. I mean, I don’t know…. In law school… I’m probably gonna date myself here, but the reasonableness is – Jimmy Stewart. What would Jimmy Stewart do in that situation? And then it moved up to other people, but basically the reasonableness of it….

 

23:49                MICHAEL: Who’s Jimmy Stewart?

 

ORLANDO: Yes, exactly.

 

VERONICA: I think I remember my great grandfather talking about that guy.

 

23:54                ORLANDO: So yeah, law school that was back way…. You know, we learned by candlelight back then, but basically, you know-

 

VERONICA: Pirates.

 

ORLANDO: You had to think of reasonable. Is it reasonable? Would a person think this is okay leaving it like this? Or should it be up high? Should it be locked? It depends on the situation of the case and the facts.

 

24:12                VERONICA: And I think that’s a very good, because what I might think as a parent might be a little different than what the law says is reasonable as a parent. What about if the parent is home with the kid drinking? Which I have again, friend says, “Look, I’m home.” Have you ever had a case where…? Can you think of an instance where this might have come into play?

 

MICHAEL: Sure. I mean, you know, I think one of the dilemmas that most parents are gonna face is okay, I want my kid to be safe. I want them to also not be, you know… the opportunities of a teenager to experiment because I mean, that’s growing up… But you want to create a safe environment for that. So the logical thing is, okay, great, well,

24:55                you can drink here. And that way I can monitor what you’re drinking, how you’re, you know… and make it safe for you. But that’s not necessarily the right thing to do either. Now, if it’s just your child, you know, there is some law out there. And obviously, you know, there’s religious ceremonies that give a week-old baby wine. So there isn’t –  You know, there are exceptions to the rule in terms of alcohol for children. But I think that in the house, you have to just know your child. You have to…. If it’s just them it’s probably, you know, it’s not… I don’t wanna say “okay,” ’cause they’re not 21. I mean, obviously with the caveat that Orlando mentioned that you have to be 21.

 

25:36                VERONICA: Yes, you have to be 21. But okay. But worst-case scenario.

 

MICHAEL: Well, I mean obviously the worst-case scenario is your child comes to you and says, “I wanna have a party.” And you say, “yes.” And that party then turns into the local high school, the high school from five miles away, the high school from 20 miles away, all these kids showing up at your house.

 

VERONICA: Word of mouth. Social media.

 

MICHAEL: That’s right. It’s much easier for that to happen these days than having a phone chain like it used to be or the telegram for Orlando.

 

VEREONICA: Okay, you really are dating. Listen you guys. Okay.

 

ORLANDO: Pony Express.

 

MICHAEL: Yes. So if you have a party, you’re really being a parent for all those kids at that point. You’re saying, “Okay, all these people are my house and I’m giving you protection here in my house.” And the worst-case scenario obviously is a party that gets out of control. And you have children – because these are children. I mean, maybe there’s some seniors who are 18; but for the most part, these are children who are drinking, potentially doing other things and-

 

26:40                VERONICA: Other things like what? Like weed? What are you talking about?

 

MICHAEL: Yeah, sure.

 

VERONICA: Weed.

 

MICHAEL: Mostly, probably weed. I wouldn’t think it would be. I mean, I haven’t, you know, as a parent-

 

VERONICA: Doing a little bump in the bathroom?

 

MICHAEL: Yeah. I don’t think they’re doing that, but they could be, sure. And that’s the thing that you won’t know as a parent. How do you know if someone’s doing a bump in the bathroom? How do you know if someone’s, you know, really only drinking a little bit and not drinking too much?

 

VERONICA: So have you guys heard of an instance where a kid actually got in trouble, you know? Like, there was some serious problems at a party?

 

27:12                MICHAEL: So, actually my daughter recently attended a party that got way out of control. I mean, unbelievable. The kids from all over the state probably showing up to this house. Hundreds I mean, well over a hundred children in a neighborhood at a house and they are going crazy. Drinking, smoking pot, having a good time and the cops show up and you know, at this point all hell breaks loose. All the kids are running! They’re trying to get the heck outta there. They don’t want to get in trouble. So… And meanwhile, the parents are home of this child.

 

27:47                VERONICA: Wow.

 

MICHAEL: So they’re, what are they doing while these kids are running around? They’re just standing there basically watching all of this happen. So, I mean, there must have been seven or eight police cars at the house and two ambulances. And it’s a mess. And you’ve got kids hiding behind signs, trying not to get caught. And you know, as a parent, you should never be in that situation. But when you are, you’re responsible. So in this case, this party happens. These kids…. The police come and they find a girl passed out. I mean, obliterated, and they have to take her to the hospital. And the parents that were there for the party…. I mean, clearly they either should have known or knew. How do you not know something like that? And then when everyone’s running, she gets left alone.

 

VERONICA: Everyone takes off and leaves this poor girl passed out.

 

28:39                MICHAEL: That’s right!

 

VERONICA: She probably got alcohol poisoning. Her stomach’s getting pumped. The parents are standing there sort of chuckling like, “Ah, kids will be kids.”

 

28:47                MICHAEL: And they may be drinking also. The parents, you know? I mean, alcohol around…. And if they drink normally, maybe they’re having a few drinks. And the police come. They basically surround the house, in a sense. They’re inside the house trying to find any kid they can. Looking upstairs. They can’t really search the house, per se,

29:06                but anybody they see and they’re underage…. So they made the parents come. They had to basically sign their kids out that they knew that this happened. And one of the – the child who was really sick – I mean, they’re probably going to want to some justice for their child. They didn’t know this. Probably didn’t know their child was gonna go there and be this way.

 

VERONICA: Right. So at that point I’m like, I’m hauling you into court.

 

MICHAEL: Yeah. And quite honestly, I think they have a right to.

 

29:36                VERONICA: This is what we’re talking about. This is parental liability. This is what you really…. Listen, friend who shall remain nameless, this is what we’re talking about. Think about the worst that can happen. This is Lawyers In The House with Montlick. The closing argument is just around the corner. Stay with us.

 

29:55                VERONICA: We are playing the law and order gavel here, folks, because this is time for the Montlick closing arguments. Orlando take it away.

 

ORLANDO: Well, I think our Montlick closing argument is that parents have to be aware

of what’s going on with their children. That’s –  Generally speaking, they have to know and they have to be aware. I think some things parents can do… One in particular would be the Find Your Phone situation where you know where your child is and you aware of where they are. My son, for example, is driving back with a group of his friends from Florida. And we could literally track him the whole way and keep an eye on him and know if he’s stopping. How long is he stopping? So it was a way of us to kind of be involved in his trip back from Florida. And it’s stressful. And even though he was 19, I think we talked about before. There’s never a time when you stop worrying about your children, you know? You never get across the goal line. They’re always playing the game with them. So I think that’s the situation. I know Michael has even more in-depth because he’s more in tune with apps.

 

VERONICA: More, Mr. Tech.

 

MICHAEL: Well, I mean…. In terms of, you know, watching your children and making sure you know what’s going on, it’s a little creepy. I would’ve hated it as a kid and not wanted it, but it’s all comes down to safety. It’s a different world. And there’s so many apps out there. Like one of the biggest things is to check the cars. If your child is driving, for instance, a Hyundai or another car, it may have an app that actually will give a safety score and tell you how the person is driving, which can be very, very helpful.

31:35                But there’s a lot of other apps like 360. There’s the Find My Phone apps. There’s things that you can do to try to just make sure your kids…. Now personally, I don’t think that we should be constantly, like computer screens everywhere watching where our children are going. But, you know, if you’re a little concerned you should check and see.

31:54                Or, you know, make sure and tell your kids it doesn’t count to leave your phone at a friend’s house and then leave so we think you’re there. So there are, you know… so there’s a lot of ways they can get around those types of things. But ultimately it all comes down to just being the best parent you can.

32:11                Watch your kids, see what’s going on. Be a part of their life. Have dinner with them. Just spend some time, because then you can address some of these concerns that we’ve talked about this whole show before they even happen.

 

VERONICA: And if somebody needs to talk to you about something that has happened, how do they get in touch with you?

 

32:29                MICHAEL: Well, there’s several ways, they can simply dial 1-800-Law-Need to Montlick and Associates. That’ll get you through every time.

 

32:35                VERONICA: And talk to a real lawyer…

 

MICHAEL: That’s right.

 

VERONICA: …who picks up the phone.

 

MICHAEL: Always. It’s been- I mean, I’ve been with the firm 22 plus years and Orlando more and we always answer the phones. We’re there to help.

 

32:46                VERONICA: The Montlick closing argument. You heard it folks. Get the apps, check the car. Maybe check the apps, too. Check the cell phone itself. Thank you so much. That’s it for this week’s Lawyers In The House. Wanted to thank our two electric attorneys here, Michael Rubin.

 

MICHAEL: My pleasure. Thank you.

 

VERONICA: Mr. Sports Hound. And Orlando Mara, who knows it really was a lateral-

 

ORLANDO: The fourth passing after.

 

33:08                VERONICA: After all it was definitely. Go Titans! We will be back with a brand new show next week with a brand new lawyer or two or three. Until then, be good. I’m Veronica Waters. This is Lawyers In The House.