Magnuson v. O'Dea

Citations

• 75 Wash. 574
• 135 P. 640
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1753

Syllabus

<p>Parent and Child — Kidnaping—Action por Damages — Persons Liable — Instructions. In an action for damages for kidnaping a child, brought against several defendants, one of whom it was admitted took no part in the kidnaping and did not know the whereabouts of the child, it is proper to instruct that there could be no liability upon him unless he participated by some act or deed in harboring and concealing the child and that mere knowledge on his part that some one had kidnaped her imposed no duty upon him to conduct an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining the guilty parties.</p> <p>Religious Societies — Torts — Liability of Bishop — Evidence— Sueeiciency. The bishop of a Catholic diocese is not liable in damages for the torts of his subordinates, a rector and the sisters in charge of a school, who kidnaped a child, where his control was only over their spiritual welfare and not the temporal affairs of either, and it merely appeared from the evidence that plaintiff called on him and failed to obtain an audience, that he heard of the child’s disappearance, and the rector, in answer to inquiry made, informed him that he did not know anything concerning her; since the minister of a church or head officer of a fraternal society is not responsible for the torts of his brethren unless participated in or ratified 'and affirmed.</p> <p>Parent and Child — Custody—Action eor Kidnaping — Parties— Abandoned Child. A divorced husband and father is not a necessary party plaintiff in an action for kidnaping a child, where the wife had remarried and the child had been for several years supported in the family of the stepfather, in whose custody she was; the inference being that the father had abandoned the child.</p> <p>Parent and Child — Custody—Kidnaping—Action for Damages —Barites—Stepfather; The stepfather is a necessary party plaintiff in an action for kidnaping a child who had been received into his home and was supported by him; since the stepfather was in duty hound to