Hockema v. J.S.
Indiana Court of Appeals
832 N.E.2d 537 (2005)
Eight-year-old Secrest (plaintiff) ran into the road and was struck by a car driven by Hockema (defendant); Secrest and his parents sued for negligence, seeking both compensation for Secrest's injuries and reimbursement of roughly $39,000 in medical expenses the parents incurred. The jury found Secrest 66.75% at fault and Hockema 33.25% at fault, returning $0 for both Secrest and his parents under Indiana's modified comparative-fault rule (which bars recovery above 50% fault), but the trial court then separately awarded the parents about $13,000 for medical expenses based on Hockema's fault percentage, over Hockema's objection that the parents' claim should be barred by the same fault allocation.
Whether a parent's claim for a child's medical expenses is a derivative claim subject to the same principles of comparative fault that govern the child's own negligence claim.