The Right to Defend Your Children

The Louisiana Civil Code is full of all sorts of laws on family issues which may arise. Oftentimes, a divorce attorney deals with the more common features of a family law legal problem, such as child custody, and community property. Today's article deals with a less common family law topic: a parent's right to defend their child.

Let's say for example there are two families that live outside of New Orleans: the Scotts and the Smiths. They live on the same street in a small suburb. From the very moment that the Scotts moved into the neighborhood, they seemed destined for a confrontation with the Smiths. Each family had a large and sprawling family: the Scotts have seven children and the Smiths have six. The kids would all play together in the street, and often got into fights. The Scotts were originally from another part of the country, and so they looked and talked differently from the other people and children in the neighborhood, particularly the Smiths.

Mr. Smith and Mr. Scott were both huge baseball fans. One of Mr. Scott's first orders of business after moving into town was to enroll as a coach for the local little league team. As luck would have it, Mr. Smith was also a little league coach, and his team had won the town championship the year before.

The combination of factors already mentioned, combined with the intense competitiveness of the two fathers, made games between the Smith's team the Scotts' team very fierce. In the final game of the season, while nursing a one run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Mr. Smith's son Jamie (who was pitching) threw a fast ball "up and in" on Mr. Scotts' son Jeremy. The baseball clipped Jeremy's nose and he fell to the ground in pain.

In a gut reaction to these events, Mr. Scott charged the mound. When he reached Jamie Smith he just could not contain himself, and struck the boy with an open hand across the face. As Jamie fell to the ground, it appeared as though Mr. Scott was going to strike him again. He began to raise his fist in fury, and instantly this prompted Mr. Smith to also charge the mound. When he arrived he delivered a stiff jab followed by a perfect right cross punch to Mr. Scott's face, which shattered the latter's orbital bone. Mr. Scott was rushed to hospital where it was discovered that had sustained permanent damage to his eye. He promptly sued Mr. Doyle for damages for assault and battery.

While it is impossible for us to say for sure what the outcome of that litigation would be, Mr. Smith might have somewhat of a defense under the Civil Code of Louisiana, specifically article 236, which states that "Fathers and mothers may justify themselves in an action begun against them for assault and battery, if they have acted in the defense of the persons of their children." Given the circumstances one could argue that this Code article is applicable.

This above is only some information on Louisiana law; it is not legal advice. Will Beaumont. New Orleans.