Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Regarding CHildren who have been abused by thei parents

1st, SPANKING is not abuse.2nd, one of the great things about this country is that you can sue anyone for anything -- I couls sue you for having torn Cleopatra's gown right before she first met Mark Antoney - even though you had never been born at the time.3rd, but the real question is whether you have a snoball's chance in hell of stating a cause of action for which a court can award relief (including a judgement for $$$$ damages, and then whether you can persuade a jury things happened as you claim and to GET them to award that judgement.4th, to answer the real question -- no.

spanking may not be abuse

You assume that spanking is actionable - the law presumes that a parent - or xomone acting "in loco parentis" has the right to discipline their child(ren). Thus the act of spanking probably would not be actionable. If the spanking was proven to be physically damaging then it might rise to an actionable level. If it is actionable then it would be like any other personal injury action in your state - in illinois up to two years after emancipation i.e. until the child reaches twenty

Tough claim for child v. spanking parents

As usual in the law, the answer is "yes" and "no."

Conventional wisdom dictates that a child could initiate such a suit, but it would be difficult to maintain. There are always exceptions and as I type, there is a parent on trial in a criminal case that the media is reporting as an isolated incident of slapping her daughter for violating a curfew.

In my opinion, based upon my experience in my state (CT), the "spanking" would have to rise to a level of child abuse in order to be actionable. A suit arising out of mere disciplinary spanking, appropriately administered, that does not go beyond to child abuse would probaby not survive. I can, however, envision a factual scenario where the spanking was so severe, so frequent, undeserved, inappropriate, coupled with emotional abuse, etc. that it could be deemed child abuse. Expert opinion could be used to bolster the legal theory that the spanking was tantamount to child abuse.

Many states have parental immunity doctrines that would prevent a child from suing for bad parenting, including corporal punishment that some might deem poor parenting (i.e. parenting malpractice). Parental immunity can be avoided however, in the case of child sexual or physical abuse.

We don't see many suits against parents for physical abuse because the statutes of limitation have not been lengthened for physical abuse like they have been for sexual abuse.

Spanking a child as abuse

In my state (NC) mere spanking of a child is probably not enought to be abuse; there would have to be marks on the child or something that the spanking was actually an abuse rather than just a punishment. As to a non-parent, you didn't give me enough information to answer the question in NC. Keep in mind that every state's law may be different on this subject. If the non-parent was in a place of a parent at the time, they may have had the right to spank the child in my state. Are you presuming that spanking in and of itself is abusive? That is not the case in NC.