Loss of consortium is the claim a legal spouse brings for what an injury did to the marriage: the companionship, affection, society, and household services the injured person can no longer provide. The Florida Supreme Court recognized it for both spouses in Gates v. Foley, 247 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1971). It belongs to the uninjured spouse and is separate from the injured spouse's own claim for medical bills and lost wages.
If you or a loved one suffer an injury at the hands of another person's negligence, contact Weinstein Legal Team today and ask for personal injury attorney in Florida, Justin Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has years of experience litigating personal injury claims in Florida courts, including the consortium claim that belongs to the injured person's spouse and is easy to leave out of a demand.
At the Weinstein Legal Team, we provide free case evaluations without any cost or obligation. Give us a call to review the facts and circumstances surrounding your injury and to discuss the possible value of your case. Our phones are open around the clock, 365 days a year, for those in need of assistance. Evidence does not keep, though. Medical records, employment records, and the recollections of the people who can describe what the marriage looked like before the injury all get harder to gather the longer you wait. Call Weinstein Legal Team at 954-845-0505.
Legal Definition of Loss of Consortium
Loss of consortium is a term that derives from the Latin phrase "per quod servitium et consortium amisit." This phrase translates to English, meaning "in consequence of which he lost [another person's] servitude and marital services." You may also hear this term referred to as a "loss of affection" or as a "loss of companionship."
Historically, the relationship between spouses is protected by the law and comes with certain entitlements. When another party damages that relationship, in this case physically, you may be eligible for compensation.
Economic Damages
Consortium has an economic side. If your spouse can no longer do what they did for the household, someone has to, and that has a dollar value: childcare, cooking, cleaning, yard work, driving, or the care of an elderly relative. Note the boundary, though. Your spouse's own lost wages belong to your spouse's claim, not to yours. What you recover is the value of what the marriage lost.
Damage to Familial Services
Additionally, a loss of consortium may refer to a loss of services within a marriage. "Services" can take on many different forms. This phrasing may refer to childcare, household chores, and errands, or another action that a spouse performs in contribution to the marriage.
Should an individual suffer an injury that makes it so they can no longer perform these services, such as requiring bed rest for an extended time or suffering a brain injury that leaves them unable to perform everyday tasks, the spouse may be entitled to compensation.
Damage to Sexual Relations & Emotional Damage
Lastly, sometimes an injury may leave a person unable to participate in sexual relations with their spouse. This may be the case with a spinal cord injury that leaves a person paralyzed, for example. Not only does this take away an important emotional element of a marriage, but it may also impact a couple's ability to have children in the future.
A personal injury may also impede the "care and affection" that is usually present in a marriage. This can negatively impact aspects of bonding, feelings of love, and ultimately, the mental health of those who are affected. Conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or depression that result in a serious injury can lead to emotional issues, making it challenging to maintain an intimate and romantic relationship. According to the loss of consortium definition, a spouse may be entitled to compensation as a result of this loss.
Death of a Spouse or Partner
While serious personal injury damages can have a profound impact not only on the quality of life for the person who is hurt but also for the quality and happiness of a marriage, the loss of consortium definition includes one additional circumstance. A personal injury may cause a loss of happiness and physical ability for a period of time, yet often, individuals make a full recovery. Sometimes injuries are so severe that the effects are long-lasting and your life may change forever.
Death changes which statute applies. Under Florida Statute 768.20, a personal injury action does not survive the injured person's death; it abates, and the claim becomes a wrongful death action brought by the decedent's personal representative. The surviving spouse's loss is then recovered under Florida Statute 768.21(2), which allows the surviving spouse to recover for loss of the decedent's companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. It is the same loss the consortium claim covers, but after a death it is pleaded as a wrongful death damage element rather than as a consortium count.
Can You Sue Someone for Loss of Consortium?
Yes, but it is not a separate lawsuit in the way people expect. Loss of consortium is a separate claim for separate damages, and it is normally pleaded as its own count in the same case the injured spouse files. The Florida Supreme Court said as much when it recognized the claim in Gates v. Foley: where the injured spouse already has a suit pending, the consortium claim may be joined with it, and if a separate suit has already been filed the two are consolidated for trial.
Gates also settled what the claim depends on. The right of action is derivative, so the spouse recovers only if the injured spouse has a cause of action against the same defendant, and a judgment on the merits against the injured spouse bars the consortium claim as well. That is why the two claims travel together instead of being filed apart.
Who Can File a Loss of Consortium Lawsuit?
Florida recognizes three loss of consortium claims, and the list is shorter than most people expect.
- A legal spouse, under Gates v. Foley, 247 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1971). Being engaged, dating, or living together does not qualify, and Florida has no common law marriage route into the claim. The marriage also has to predate the injury: in Fullerton v. Hospital Corp. of America, 660 So. 2d 389 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995), a husband who married his wife several years after the radiation exposure that injured her had no consortium claim at all.
- A child of an injured parent, under Florida Statute 768.0415. The statute is narrow. It covers an unmarried dependent whose natural or adoptive parent suffers a significant permanent injury resulting in permanent total disability, for acts of negligence occurring on or after October 1, 1988.
- A parent of an injured child, under United States v. Dempsey, 635 So. 2d 961 (Fla. 1994). The Florida Supreme Court set the same threshold there: a significant injury resulting in the child's permanent total disability.
Siblings have no loss of consortium claim in Florida. Neither does an unmarried partner, however long the relationship has lasted.
How Can a Lawyer help With a Loss of Consortium Claim?
If you are searching for answers to the question "what is loss of consortium and am I eligible to file a claim?" call Weinstein Legal Team today and ask to speak with personal injury attorney Justin Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein will provide you with a free case evaluation, free of any obligation, which may outline the potential value of your lawsuit.
The team at Weinstein Legal Team will tell you what a consortium claim actually needs: medical proof of the injured spouse's condition and its permanence, and testimony from people who can describe what the marriage looked like before the injury and what it looks like now. Do not wait to file a claim for loss of consortium. Call Weinstein Legal Team today at 954-845-0505.
Florida gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a negligence lawsuit under Florida Statute 95.11(5)(a). That period applies to injuries on or after March 24, 2023; older injuries keep the earlier four-year period. Miss the deadline and the court will dismiss the case no matter how strong it is. If the injury was fatal, the family's wrongful death action must be filed by the personal representative within two years of the date of death under Florida Statute 95.11(5)(e).
