A loss of consortium claim is a California spouse’s own legal claim for the loss of companionship, affection, and support caused by an injury to their husband, wife, or registered domestic partner. It exists separately from the injured person’s own case, even though the two claims are connected and rise or fall together.
What Is the Legal Definition of Loss of Consortium in California?
Under California law, loss of consortium is the loss of the benefits a spouse or registered domestic partner would normally receive from the relationship after their partner is hurt by someone else’s negligence. The California Supreme Court has recognized this as the uninjured spouse’s own cause of action, separate from the injured person’s claim for their own injuries. The jury instruction California courts use describes the losses as the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, moral support, and the loss of the ability to enjoy sexual relations or have children. This type of claim usually comes up in cases involving serious or catastrophic injuries, where the day-to-day relationship has changed in a way that can be described and supported with evidence. California does not require that the injury be permanent or catastrophic, and how much the injury changed the relationship is a question for the jury on the evidence.
Who Can File a Loss of Consortium Claim in California?
In California, only the injured person’s spouse or registered domestic partner can bring a loss of consortium claim. California law gives registered domestic partners the same rights as spouses in this area, so a registered partner can bring the same claim a husband or wife could. California courts have specifically closed the door on other relationships bringing this claim. An unmarried partner, no matter how long the couple has lived together or how committed the relationship is, cannot bring a loss of consortium claim under California law. The same is true along family lines: California courts have ruled that a child cannot bring a claim for the loss of a parent’s companionship, and a parent cannot bring a claim for the loss of a child’s companionship, after the other is seriously injured by someone else’s negligence. Those rulings were based on how hard this kind of loss is to measure and the risk of the same injury producing claims from many family members at once, not because the loss itself is doubted.
Is Loss of Consortium the Same as a Wrongful Death Claim?
No. A loss of consortium claim is the spouse’s own claim for how the relationship has changed while the injured person is still alive, and it is a different legal claim from wrongful death, which a family brings after someone dies from their injuries. A loss of consortium claim is tied to the injured person’s own case: the jury only awards damages on this claim once the injured person’s own claim against the at-fault party is proven, so the two rise and fall together even though they cover different losses. Because it is the spouse’s own claim, the spouse has to be the one who brings it, and a filing deadline applies to it. The injured person’s case covers their own medical bills, lost income, and physical pain. The consortium claim covers only the uninjured spouse’s own loss of companionship and the other relationship-based losses, and the jury is told not to also count the injured spouse’s financial support, the value of nursing care the spouse personally provided, or income the spouse gave up to provide that care, since those are handled through the injured person’s own case.
Does your spouse already have a claim against the person or company that hurt them?
A loss of consortium claim depends on that claim being proven, but it is still your own claim, and you have to bring it yourself within a filing deadline.
What Evidence Supports a Loss of Consortium Claim?
Evidence in a loss of consortium claim centers on how daily life and the relationship changed after the injury, shown mainly through testimony. The spouse bringing the claim typically testifies about the specific ways companionship, affection, and shared day-to-day life were affected, rather than describing the loss in general terms. The injured person’s own testimony about the relationship, along with accounts from family members and friends who knew the couple before and after the injury, can support what the spouse describes. Because the claim turns on how much the injury changed the relationship, the medical evidence in the underlying injury case, particularly in cases involving catastrophic injuries, often does double duty in showing why the relationship changed as much as it did. There’s no fixed checklist of required proof; the strength of the claim comes down to how clearly the before-and-after picture of the relationship is documented and told.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an unmarried partner sue for loss of consortium in California? No. California limits loss of consortium claims to spouses and registered domestic partners, and courts have specifically ruled that unmarried partners, including long-term cohabitants, do not have this claim under California law. That rule holds regardless of how long the couple has been together or how committed the relationship is. The reasoning is that extending the claim to unmarried relationships would require a court to judge the seriousness of relationships that were never formalized through marriage or registration, which California has left to its marriage and domestic partnership rules instead.
How much is a loss of consortium claim worth in California? There’s no fixed dollar amount or formula that applies to a loss of consortium claim in California. The jury instruction used in these cases leaves the value to the jury’s judgment, based on the specific losses to the relationship. It also does not include the injured spouse’s own financial losses, like lost income or the cost of care, since those are part of the injured person’s separate case.
Can children or parents bring a loss of consortium claim in California? Not for an injury. California courts have ruled that a child cannot bring a loss of consortium claim for an injured parent, and a parent cannot bring one for an injured child. Loss of consortium itself is limited to spouses and registered domestic partners. If the parent or child died, that is a different claim, wrongful death, with its own rules.
Does a loss of consortium claim replace the injured person’s own case? No. A loss of consortium claim is the spouse’s own separate claim, connected to the injured person’s personal injury case rather than replacing it. The jury only awards damages on this claim once the injured person’s own claim against the at-fault party is proven, and it covers different losses than the injured person’s own case covers.
If a serious injury has changed your relationship with your spouse or registered domestic partner, it’s worth talking to an attorney about whether a loss of consortium claim applies alongside the injured person’s case. We work on a contingency basis, so there’s no fee unless we win. If there is no recovery, no case costs are charged either. Call 310-600-7881 for a free case review, or send us the details and we will call you back.
