Parents Don’t Love You Enough? Time To Sue

Bernard Bey

Not happy about your childhood? One Brooklyn man has come up with a novel solution: Sue your parents.

Bernard Bey, 32, has filed a lawsuit seeking $200,000 in damages against his parents for not loving him enough as a child. “If you have kids, you’re expected to love your children,” he said to NBC News. “You want the best for your children.”

Bey’s story is a tragic one — he alleges physical and mental abuse and time in homeless shelters as a child, followed by prison time and life on the streets as an adult. His proposed solution is unconventional — the lawsuit asks that his parents purchase two restaurant franchises “like Domino’s Pizza.”

“I feel like my parents should want the best for their children and grandchildren so we have something to pass down for generations so we don’t have to live like this,” Bey said.

When contacted for comment Bey’s stepfather uttered “choice unprintable words.” He and Bey’s mother currently live in public housing.

It was unclear if Bey would accept Little Ceasar’s or Pizza Hut in lieu of Domino’s.

Bad Precedent

Bey’s lawsuit echoes another recent family dispute. In 2011, an Illinois mother beat a lawsuit filed by her children that accused her of being a “bad mom.” In that case, Kimberly Garrity fended off damages of $50,000 requested by her two adult children because she failed to give them birthday presents and once threatened to call the police on her son for not buckling his seatbelt, among other complaints.

“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,” the court ruled.

Adding a twist to the story, the plaintiffs’ attorney was — wait for it — their father, the defendant’s ex-husband! The lawsuit was thrown out by a circuit court, and again by an appeals court.

So the track record isn’t good, but maybe Bey will get his day in court — although in his case, he wrote the lawsuit himself without the assistance of a lawyer, which is not usually a recipe for success.