DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Kids Lose "Bad Mother" Lawsuit

This is a serious case of sense of entitlement. If I was the judge I would of made the kids do community service for wasting the courts time.

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Did you know you can sue your parents for skimping out on your childhood birthday gifts? You can, but you'll probably lose. Two years after Steven and Kathryn Miner, both in their 20s, sued their mother, Kimberly Garrity, for bad parenting during their formative years, the case has been dismissed. The $500,000 lawsuit accused 55-year-old Garrity of causing her adult kids emotional distress.
Their claims about their poor upbringing had more to do with what mom didn't do, than what she did. For starters: she didn't send her son college care packages, or buy her daughter the homecoming dress she wanted. And their birthday cards? No cash or checks, just Hallmark sentiments.

The Chicago Tribune reports Exhibit A in the case was a check-free birthday card for Steven, now 23.

"The card pictured tomatoes on a table with one tomato that had googly eyes. Inside the card read: 'Son I got you this Birthday card because it's just like you...different from all the rest! Have a great day! Love & Hugs, Mom xoxoxo.'"

An Illinois court of appeals judge decided this card, and other evidence of Garrity's proposed "bad mothering", weren't grounds for punishment.

"Such alleged actions are unpleasant and perhaps insensitive, and some would arguably fall outside the realm of 'good mothering,' but they are not so shocking as to form a basis for a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress," said Judge Kathy Flanagan in a court statement, adding that ruling in favor of the children "could potentially open the floodgates to subject family child rearing to ... excessive judicial scrutiny and interference."

The Miners were raised in an affluent Chicago suburb which may account for some lack of understanding of normal privileges outside of their luxury bubble. But there's more to the story than just a couple of spoiled adult kids. One of the Miner siblings' three lawyers is their father, Garrity's ex-husband, also named Steven Miner. When the couple divorced in 1995, the kids moved in with their dad.

Garrity's attorney claims the lawsuit was her ex-husband's attempt at the "ultimate revenge"; however, the senior Steven Miner says he tried to talk his kids out the lawsuit before representing them. Other claims against Garrity's mothering ability filed in the case, include threatening to call the police if her son didn't wear his seatbelt and forcing her daughter to come home from a homecoming party at midnight. The most serious accusation claimed Garrity once slapped her son upside the head, causing him what he alleges are chronic headaches, according to ABC News.
The judge called the claims "petty grievances of parental attention or inadequacy."

It's not the first time kids have sued their own parents. Gary Coleman and a handful of other child stars have taken their parents to court over misappropriation of finances. And in 1978 a 24-year old man named Tom Hansen sued his mom and dad for "malpractice of parenting." His $350,000 suit claimed his parents tried "to channel me in the direction they wanted me to go" and "spent nothing for what I wanted, nothing on music or art." Hansen's suit, like the Miners', was also dismissed.

Father-slash-attorney Steven Miner told the court his kids weren't out to get back at their mom, they just wanted her to assume some accountability. "Everyone makes mistakes, but … there must be accountability for actions," he wrote in a statement for the court. "Parenting is no different."

Despite the ruling, the Miner kids may get the accountability they were looking for. Garrity's attorney suggests that her client's legal fees may end up costing her more than 18 years worth of birthday checks.

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I liked how the dad said he tried to talk his kids out of not suing their mother before he ended up counseling them. How about this dad...you tell them they are stupid and they would have to pay someone else to be their lawyer for a stupid case like that.

Boo hoo mommy didn't give me money on my birthday and she made me be home by midnight when I was underage. WTF is this world coming to.

The only one in this whole story that appears to be well adjusted is the mother, everybody else needs to be slapped in the head.

The kids should be made to pay the mother's legal fees, and the kids lawyer should be disbarred for bringing this assinine lawsuit to the courts.

This is such a pathetic story.

I hope this episode of life haunts these little ingrates for many many years to come.

The father, his johnson should fall off for a lack of supporting characters.

The kids should have to pay for Mom's defense .... or else they should have to work it off by cutting her lawn, cleaning her windows, doing her dishes and laundry, washing her car, and so on until they pay the amount off in trade completely.

This story is so pathetic on so many levels that it isn't really even funny.

Wow, if I'm mom I'm sending a nice bag of hot dog doo for their next birthday with a card "Don't say I never sent you anything."


Not sure I'd care to claim children willing to sue me for such BS.


Found another copy of the story that says it was for $50,000 not $500,000 and found 4 other copies that all said 50k as well.

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23-year-old Steven Miner II and his sister Kathryn, 20, grew up in a world of suffering. They were forced to live in a luxurious, $1.5 million home in Barrington Hills, Illinois, where their mom, Kimberly Garrity, lorded over them with "bad mothering" that caused "emotional distress..."

So two years ago they decided to sue her for $50,000. And their claims of maternal abuse read like a searing horror story -- if you're an ingrate rich kid.

Among the siblings complaints is that mom once sent Steven II a birthday that didn't include a cash or a check. Worse, it included a sentimental touch -- "Have a great day! Love & Hugs, Mom xoxoxo'' -- that Steven II found insufficiently sentimental.

The horrors didn't stop there. Mom once told Steven II he had to buckle his seatbelt when he was 7, otherwise she was calling the cops. She also once called Kathryn at midnight, telling her it was time to come home from a homecoming party.

The abuse would only get worse. Garrity once refused to take Kathryn to a car show, she haggled over the amount of money to spend on a party dress, and she didn't send Steven II care packages when he went to college.

Garrity also -- gasp! -- had the audacity to change her name when she got remarried.

As you can imagine, all this left the rich kids hopelessly damaged and incapable of ever having a healthy relationship again. So they hired three lawyers -- including their dad, Steven Miner I -- to take mom down.

Miner I claims he advised his kids against the suit. But that doesn't quite explain why he would nonetheless join the litigation as one of their lawyers. He divorced Garrity when the kids were 7 and 5, and her lawyers claim he was merely getting revenge on his ex-wife.

Alas, the siblings quest to right this unspeakable injustice was thwarted when an Illinois appellate court threw out the suit, saying their claims didn't meet the standard of emotional distress.
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DUMB

Waste of time for the courts...

You know... this must be the kind of stuff that makes a judge want to leap over the bench and strangle somebody (either that or take multiple recesses to retire to his chamber to LOL and recompose himself). Unbelievable.