Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 231 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 85G, as amended by chapter 442 of the acts of 1985, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 85G. Parents of an unemancipated child under the age of eighteen and over the age of seven years shall be liable in a civil action for any willful act committed by said child which results in injury or death to another person or damage to the property of another, which shall include any damages resulting from a larceny or attempted larceny of property as set forth in section thirty A of chapter two hundred and sixty-six, damage to cemetery property or damage to any state, county or municipal property. This section shall not apply to a parent who, as a result of a decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, does not have custody of such child at the time of the commission of the tort. Recovery under this section shall be limited to the amount of proved loss or damage but in no event shall it exceed five thousand dollars.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 231 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 85R the following section:-

Section 85R 1/2. Whoever causes damage to the property of a person as a result of a larceny or attempted larceny of said property as set forth in section thirty A of chapter two hundred and sixty-six or commits or attempts to commit a larceny of goods for sale on the premises of a merchant or commits or attempts to commit a larceny of the personal property of employees or customers or others present on such premises shall be liable in tort to the merchant for damages for not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars in addition to any actual damages incurred. An action for recovery may be commenced under the provisions of sections twenty-one to twenty-five, inclusive, of chapter two hundred and eighteen.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect on January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.