Loss of Consortium Claims
After an individual is hurt due to the negligence of another, the victim is not the only person who is impacted by such negligence. Indeed, if the person hurt is married, his or her spouse might also suffer consequences both because the marital relationship is impacted due to the incident and because the injured spouse can no longer perform household tasks they previously were able to perform. Fortunately, loss of consortium claims empower spouses of individuals injured due to the negligence of another to recover for their losses.
Qualifications
It is relatively easy to determine if someone qualifies to pursue loss of consortium claims. Generally, individuals need to be married at the time of the incident in order to qualify for loss of consortium causes of action. As such, marrying at a later time usually does not empower an individual to assert a loss of consortium claim. However, if an injury that occurred before the marriage is discovered after the marriage, then it might be possible to pursue loss of consortium causes of action. Moreover, different jurisdictions may have different rules regarding whether domestic partners, people who are in a common law marriage, or individuals in other situations qualify for loss of consortium claims. An experienced personal injury lawyer should know if a loss of consortium claim can be pursued in your situation.
Loss of Services
One set of damages that is typically recovered in loss of consortium claims is loss of services. Spouses naturally perform various chores around their household throughout the marriage. This includes, but is not limited to, cleaning cooking, gardening, childcare matters, and other tasks. If an injured spouses is unable to perform these services like they were able to before an incident, the spouse that was not injured usually needs to complete tasks that were completed by the injured spouse. In some instances, a spouse may need to pay someone else to perform cleaning, gardening, and other similar tasks that used to be performed by another spouse, and this can impact someone’s bottom line.
Fortunately, loss of consortium claims allow individuals to recover the value of services that a spouse can no longer perform. In some instance, this cost is easy to quantify because it is simple to relate how much someone is paid to clean or perform other chores that a spouse used to perform. In other instances, it is harder to put a dollar amount on the loss of services from an injured spouse. It is important that individuals keep accurate records of how much money they spent on substitute help in order to best prove their case for loss of services claims during litigation.
Marital Relations
Another one of the important loss of consortium claims is the impact an incident can have on marital relations. The concept of marital relations is broad, and courts consider a number of losses under this category of damages. Physical relations between spouses can be limited due to the negligence of another, and this can be recovered through a loss of consortium cause of action. Moreover, the emotional love, affection, and support that spouses provide each other throughout the course of a marriage can be impacted since spouses need to focus on damages from an incident rather than these parts of a marriage.
Again, it can sometimes be hard for individuals to quantify the impact that an accident had on a marriage. In addition, spouses usually need to answer sensitive questions about their marital relations before and after an accident and how strong the marriage was before and after an accident so that parties can ascertain the true extent of the loss. However, an experienced attorney can work with experts to help quantify the value of this loss and make it less difficult to answer the questions associated with making this claim.
Benefits of Asserting Loss of Consortium Claims
Some spouses may believe it is not necessary to assert loss of consortium claims because the injured spouse will secure a recovery, so it does not make sense to involve the other spouse in a lawsuit. However, there are a number of benefits to having a spouse make loss of consortium claims in addition to the direct claims in a lawsuit. For one, loss of consortium claims can increase the settlement that is offered to resolve a matter. When parties decide on a settlement figure for a case, they will naturally consider the claims of a spouse of the person who is injured, and this could increase the amount of money that is awarded to a household for a case. In addition, having more people involved in a case can make it easier to split up the work associated with responding to questions and document demands that might be made in litigation. In addition, asserting loss of consortium claims can help a spouse provide support to the injured spouse as they go through the litigation process by showing that both spouses are involved in the lawsuit together.
The Rothman Law Firm has experience with loss of consortium claims and all manner of personal injury cases. If you are looking for an experienced New York and New Jersey personal injury lawyer to handle your loss of consortium claim or other legal issue, please feel free to contact The Rothman Law Firm to request a free consultation.