{
  "id": 8550610,
  "name": "DEBRA JOHNSON MORGAN (NOW SINCLAIR) v. EVELENE O. JOHNSON",
  "name_abbreviation": "Morgan v. Johnson",
  "decision_date": "1974-12-18",
  "docket_number": "No. 7421SC860",
  "first_page": "307",
  "last_page": "309",
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    "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.",
    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
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    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
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      "cite": "139 S.E. 2d 753",
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      "cite": "9 N.C. App. 635",
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      "cite": "208 S.E. 2d 433",
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      "year": 1974,
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    {
      "cite": "23 N.C. App. 230",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C. App.",
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      "year": 1974,
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    {
      "cite": "188 S.E. 2d 651",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1972,
      "opinion_index": 0
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    {
      "cite": "14 N.C. App. 646",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C. App.",
      "case_ids": [
        8552332
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  "analysis": {
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:54:40.635509+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Chief Judge Brock and Judge Hedrick concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "DEBRA JOHNSON MORGAN (NOW SINCLAIR) v. EVELENE O. JOHNSON"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "MARTIN, Judge.\n\u201cIt has long been the rule in North Carolina that an unemancipated minor child cannot maintain an action against his parent for personal injuries negligently inflicted.\u201d Mabry v. Bowen, 14 N.C. App. 646, 188 S.E. 2d 651 (1972). The present case involves an action by plaintiff against her stepmother. Plaintiff concedes that the doctrine of parental immunity extends to a stepparent standing in loco parentis, but she contends that (1) defendant never stood in loco parentis to plaintiff and (2) even if such a relationship did exist, there remains a triable issue of fact regarding plaintiff\u2019s emancipation from defendant.\nThe term \u2018in loco parentis\u2019 means in the place of a parent, and a \u2018person in loco parentis\u2019 may be defined as one who has assumed the status and obligations of a parent without a formal adoption. Shook v. Peavy, 23 N.C. App. 230, 208 S.E. 2d 433 (1974). In her affidavit defendant states:\n\u201cFrom the date of my marriage to the plaintiff\u2019s father in 1963, until on or about March of 1970, I assumed a parental character and discharged parental duties with respect to the plaintiff, Debra Johnson Morgan. I never formally adopted any of my stepchildren. I prepared meals, kept the home, provided counsel and directed the daily activities of my stepchildren, including Debra Johnson Morgan, in such a manner and in all respects as would a mother to these stepchildren. I stood in the place of a parent to my stepchildren in all respects.\u201d\nNothing else appearing, the foregoing affidavit of defendant would clearly entitle defendant to summary judgment in her favor on the ground of parental immunity. We now turn to plaintiff\u2019s affidavit to determine if it shows a triable issue of material fact.\n\u201c \u2018 [I] f the moving party by affidavit or otherwise presents materials which would require a directed verdict in his favor, if presented at trial, then he is entitled to summary judgment unless the opposing party either shows that affidavits are then unavailable to him, or he comes forward with some materials, by affidavit or otherwise, that show there is a triable issue of material fact . \u2019 Moore\u2019s Federal Practice, 2d Ed., Yol. 6, \u00a7 56.11(3), p. 2171.\u201d Pridgen v. Hughes, 9 N.C. App. 635, 177 S.E. 2d 425 (1970).\nIn her affidavit plaintiff does not deny that defendant assumed the role as a mother toward her. Instead, she states:\n\u201cI never regarded the defendant as a mother or a stepmother, but as my father\u2019s wife, because I had a real mother. Neither did the defendant regard me as \u2018her child\u2019, but as \u2018her husband\u2019s child\u2019. Anytime she introduced me to anyone she always introduced me as \u2018my husband\u2019s child\u2019. I called my father\u2019s wife \u2018Evelene\u2019 at her direction. My relationship with the defendant was not good, and at my request, from June, 1966 until May, 1967 my father placed me in a boarding school....\u201d\nShe also states that she received all of her support from her father, and after graduation from school in 1970 she became self-supporting. We find no triable issue of a material fact presented in plaintiff\u2019s affidavit. Plaintiff\u2019s dislike for defendant. and the fact that plaintiff\u2019s father provided for her support does not indicate emancipation in the slightest. \u201cThe power to emancipate resides in that parent having the duty to support, ordinarily the father.\u201d Gillikin v. Burbage, 263 N.C. 317, 139 S.E. 2d 753 (1965). Nor do we think that defendant\u2019s regard for plaintiff as \u201cher husband\u2019s child\u201d is significant. After all, defendant married plaintiff\u2019s father when plaintiff was eleven years old, and it would be only natural to regard plaintiff as \u201cher husband\u2019s child.\u201d\nPlaintiff failed to show a triable issue of material fact for the jury, and, therefore, it was appropriate for the trial court to grant defendant\u2019s motion for summary judgment.\nAffirmed.\nChief Judge Brock and Judge Hedrick concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "MARTIN, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Harrell Powell, Jr., for plaintiff appellant.",
      "Deal, Hutchins and Minor, by Richard Tyndall and James C. Eubanks III, for defendant appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "DEBRA JOHNSON MORGAN (NOW SINCLAIR) v. EVELENE O. JOHNSON\nNo. 7421SC860\n(Filed 18 December 1974)\nParent and Child \u00a7 2 \u2014 stepmother in loco parentis\u2014 immunity in negligence action\nIn plaintiff\u2019s action against her stepmother to recover for personal injuries allegedly resulting from defendant\u2019s negligent operation of an automobile in which plaintiff was a passenger, defendant stood in Togo parentis to plaintiff, and defendant was entitled to summary judgment in her favor on the ground of parental immunity; furthermore, plaintiff failed to present a triable issue as to her emancipation where her affidavit indicated that plaintiff received all of her support from her father, that plaintiff disliked defendant, and that defendant always referred to plaintiff as \u201cher husband\u2019s child.\u201d\nAppeal by plaintiff from Exwm, Judge, 8 July 1974 Session of Superior Court held in Forsyth County. Heard in the Court of Appeals on 20 November 1974.\nPlaintiff instituted this action to recover for personal injuries resulting from an automobile accident in July 1967. In her complaint she alleges that her injuries were proximately caused' by defendant\u2019s negligent operation of an automobile in which plaintiff was a passenger. Defendant moved for summary judgment on the ground that defendant was immune from suit because she stood in loco 'parentis to the plaintiff at the time of the accident. The trial court, having considered affidavits of plaintiff and defendant, granted defendant\u2019s motion, and plaintiff appealed.\nHarrell Powell, Jr., for plaintiff appellant.\nDeal, Hutchins and Minor, by Richard Tyndall and James C. Eubanks III, for defendant appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0307-01",
  "first_page_order": 335,
  "last_page_order": 337
}