Meling v. Lamb, 202 Ill. App. 39 (1916)

Nov. 14, 1916 · Illinois Appellate Court · Gen. No. 21,477
202 Ill. App. 39

N. C. Meling, Defendant in Error, v. Mary J. Lamb, Plaintiff in Error.

Gen. No. 21,477.

(Not to be reported in full.)

Error to the Municipal Court of Chicago; the Hon. Sheridan E. Ebt, Judge, presiding. Heard in the Branch Appellate Court at the October term, 1915.

Reversed.

Opinion filed November 14, 1916.

Rehearing denied November 24, 1916.

Statement of the Case.

Action by N. C. Meling, plaintiff, against Mary J. Lamb, defendant, in the Municipal Court of Chicago, to recover for a surgical operation performed by plaintiff, a surgeon, on the minor son of defendant, a divorced woman. To reverse a judgment for plaintiff for one hundred dollars, defendant prosecutes a writ of error.

It appeared that the decree of divorce between defendant and her husband gave the custody of the son to the husband, and that at the time of the operation the son did not live with defendant, and was not subject to her control.

Leon A. Berezniak, for plaintiff in error.

Cameron & Matson, for defendant in error.

*40Abstract of the Decision.

Parent and child, § 14 * —when divorced mother not liable for surgical operation on child. Where a decree of divorce awards the custody of a minor son to the father, the divorced wife is not liable for the expense of a surgical operation performed on the son, in the absence of an express promise, or of facts or circumstances from which an implied promise can he inferred.

Mr. Justice McGuorty

delivered the opinion of the court.