Transamerica Insurance v. Royle

This case comes from the Federal District Court by way of certification pursuant to Rule 1 of the rules of this Court. At issue is an insurance company’s obligation to defend or provide coverage for parents who are being sued by their daughter.

Judge Russell Smith has certified the following two issues:

1. “Is the ‘household exclusion’ in a policy [of auto insurance], not certified under the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, valid?”

2. “Is a parent immune from action in tort brought against him by his children under the age of emancipation?”

On November 14, 1980, Mary Kay Haines was…