Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Ohio

Parents liability with 16yr old drug user possible dealer

We have a 16yr old son who abuses drugs and is on probation. After going through his room we discovered he stole prescription (narcotic) drugs from us and other pills we could not identify. My question is, if our son sold drugs to another juvenile and something happened to that person, would we his parents be liable? What can we do to protect ourselves if something should happen?


Asked on 3/09/05, 10:32 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joseph Jacobs Jacobs & Lowder

Re: Parents liability with 16yr old drug user possible dealer

Probably not. The test is whether you could foresee that he would steal it and sell it... and that person who bought them was hurt and that you should have known that that person would be hurt. That's quite a stretch.

If from now on you safeguarded your drugs you will be safe. Additionally, parents can be held liable only by intentional torts of their children, i.e., if your son hit someone.

Joe Jacobs

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Answered on 3/18/05, 3:04 pm


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