If you have been severely injured because of someone else’s carelessness, often your spouse feels the impact of your injury as well. You simply are not able to relate to each other the same way you did before the injury. Connecticut Courts acknowledge this and, as a result, recognize a separate cause of action for damages for the non-injured spouse called “loss of consortium”.
- The non-injured spouse is entitled to monetary damages for all of the ways in which he/she has lost the care and companionship of the injured spouse.
- In order to assert a claim for loss of consortium, the parties must have been married at the time of the injury.
- The non-injured spouse’s claim for damages is considered “derivative” which means if the injured party settles his/her claim it extinguishes the loss of consortium claim. A 2011 opinion of the Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed this conclusion.
- Although similar principles apply to relationships between an injured parent and child or an injured child and parent, the Connecticut Supreme Court has not recognized a separate cause of action for parental/filial loss of consortium.
Strategizing the way a claim for damages is presented to an insurance company, judge or jury is critically important. We have years of experience helping people who have been injured by others. Feel free to contact us if you have been injured and have questions about your rights.