Can a minor hire a lawyer and sue someone without parental permission?

[Boyo_Jim]

Inspired by this thread about the student who sued her school district.

**Kalhoun{/B] posted this, arguing that her parents were the real instigators of her legal, er, agressiveness.

I do think she’s a victim here. Her parents, in a lame attempt to live vicariously through her, are the demons here. They have her believing that business/scholastic success, at any price, is the ultimate goal in life. She’ll probably end up an empty shell of a human being who judges everyone by their bank account. She’ll judge all life’s accomplishments by their “bottom line.” It’s actually very sad.

This inspired some responses I won’t go into here as that thread is still going strong, but raised the question in my mind whether she COULD have done this without their support.

So could a minor have hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit if here parents were unwilling to support her claims? I know there are some special cases where this might happen, if the claim is against the parents, but what about third parties?

[Boyo_Jim]

One bump.

Nobody can answer this?

[Bricker]

Yes.

However, the first step in such a lawsuit would be for the judge hearing the case to appoint a guardian ad litem - for the purpose of litigation. Usually, that’s one or both parents, but if the parents don’t wish to be, a judge can appoint some other person to act for the minor for the purpose of entering into litigation.