Senate passes driver liability limits in tight vote (UPDATE)

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The state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would prevent parents from having to pay more than $300,000 in civil cases when their children under age 18 cause car crashes.

The Senate voted 17-16 in favor of Senate Bill 592, which would get rid of the unlimited legal liability parents are now exposed to when their children cause crashes while behind the wheel. All of the Republicans in the Senate, except for state Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, voted for the legislation.

Advocates of the change argued that setting a cap of $300,000 still would leave parents exposed to greater losses than many realize but at least would get rid of the unlimited liability that exists under current law.

Democratic critics, though, questioned if the proposed protection would come at the expense of victims.

State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said it makes little sense to make the amount of possible liability vary according to who was behind the wheel.

“When it’s the kid, then the parents are responsible up to $300,000,” he said. “But you get hit by the parents, and they are responsible for whatever the court decides.”

The author of the bill, state Sen. Glenn Grothman, D-West Bend, said he is trying to protect parents in cases in which they are not directly at fault.

At a Feb. 6 Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing on a companion bill, Assembly Bill 706, Jeffrey Leavell, secretary treasurer of the Wisconsin Defense Counsel, a group that advocates for defendants’ rights, said the bill would help make Wisconsin statutes more consistent.

The law already sets a cap, Leavell said, on the fines that can be imposed on parents whose children are the perpetrators of property damage, theft, bodily injury or various acts of vandalism. School boards and other school-governing bodies are limited to collecting $20,000 at most in such cases, and all other parties are limited to $5,000.

Leavell said he thinks most parents assume that similar caps are in place for accidents caused by their children. To get a driver’s license for a child who is under the age of 18, parents sign a Department of Motor Vehicles form warning that they can be held liable for the child’s negligent and willful misconduct behind the wheel.

But, Leavell said, he thinks that language escapes the notice of most.

For SB 592 to become law, it must still be passed by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Scott Walker. Follow @TDR_WLJDan