When a person is seriously injured in a car accident, motorcycle accident, or other personal injury incident in California, the impact extends far beyond the injured person themselves. Spouses and domestic partners often experience profound changes in their relationship as a result of the injury — and California law recognizes that these impacts are compensable damages. This category of damages is called loss of consortium and it is one of the most frequently overlooked components of a personal injury claim. Attorney Anthony Girgis at Girgis Law Firm APC represents injured clients and their spouses throughout Encino, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Northridge, and the greater Los Angeles area. Here is what you need to know about loss of consortium in California.
What Is Loss of Consortium?
Loss of consortium is a legal claim that compensates a spouse or domestic partner for the loss of the benefits of their relationship with an injured person. Under California Civil Code Section 3333, a spouse or registered domestic partner may bring a loss of consortium claim when their partner has been seriously injured through someone else’s negligence.
Loss of consortium encompasses several distinct types of relationship losses, including loss of companionship and the enjoyment of each other’s company, loss of affection and emotional support, loss of sexual relations, loss of assistance with household duties and childcare, loss of the injured spouse’s ability to participate in family activities and traditions, and the emotional distress experienced by the uninjured spouse as a result of witnessing their partner’s suffering and changed condition.
Who Can Bring a Loss of Consortium Claim in California?
In California, loss of consortium claims are available to legally married spouses and registered domestic partners. The claim must be brought by the uninjured spouse or partner — not the injured person themselves. California courts have historically limited loss of consortium claims to married couples and registered domestic partners and have not extended them to unmarried cohabitating couples.
How Is Loss of Consortium Calculated?
Unlike economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages, loss of consortium is a non-economic damage that does not have a precise dollar value. The amount is determined by considering the severity and permanence of the injured spouse’s injuries, the length of the marriage or domestic partnership, the quality of the relationship before the injury, the specific ways in which the relationship has been affected, and the age of both spouses and their reasonable life expectancy.
Loss of consortium awards in California can range from modest amounts in less serious cases to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cases involving catastrophic injuries or permanent disability.
How Does Loss of Consortium Affect Your Personal Injury Case?
Adding a loss of consortium claim to a personal injury case increases the total potential recovery for your family and demonstrates the full human impact of the at-fault party’s negligence. It requires careful documentation of the relationship before and after the injury — including testimony from both spouses, medical records, and in some cases expert testimony from relationship counselors or therapists.
Attorney Anthony Girgis carefully evaluates every case for loss of consortium damages and ensures that this important category of recovery is fully documented and presented in settlement negotiations and litigation.
Injured in a car accident in the San Fernando Valley? Contact Girgis Law Firm APC for a free consultation. Attorney Anthony Girgis represents accident victims and their families throughout Encino, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Northridge, Woodland Hills, and surrounding communities. Call (818) 986-5000 — no fees unless we win.
