It may be absolutely gut-wrenching for you to learn that your partner has been made the victim of a serious personal injury accident. And it may be worse for you to witness them dealing with the negative effects in the weeks, months, or even years afterwards. With this, even though you were not directly involved in the accident, your life may be impacted indirectly. This is what may constitute a loss of consortium claim. With that said, please continue reading to learn more about a loss of consortium and how an experienced Miami-Dade County injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Gonzalo Funes, PA, can help you effectively claim it.
What is sought in a loss of consortium claim?
Simply put, a loss of consortium claim is a type of civil action you may bring forward if your partner was seriously injured due to another party’s sheer negligence, usually in a personal injury accident event. With this lawsuit, you essentially seek financial compensation to make up for your loss of intangible partnership benefits. Specifically, you may cite the following losses:
- Your loss of companionship with your partner.
- Your loss of affection with your partner.
- Your loss of sexual relations with your partner.
- Your loss of services provided by your partner:
- Your partner can no longer handle household chores.
- Your partner can no longer manage child care alone.
- Your partner can no longer financially contribute to the household.
- Your emotional distress over your partner’s suffering.
Again, these intangible, non-economic damages may be more difficult to establish as fact. Usually, this is supported through witness testimonies from your partner themself and close family members who can vouch for the type of partnership you shared before their accident.
Am I eligible to file a loss of consortium claim?
It is worth mentioning that, in the state of Florida, you may only file a loss of consortium claim if you are legally married to your partner. In other words, unmarried cohabitants do not have an opportunity to pursue this claim type. This is regardless of how long you have been in a partnership together or lived together, or if you have had children together.
That said, if you remain eligible, you and your spouse may file a loss of consortium claim jointly. Meaning that this is a separate legal action from the personal injury claim your spouse may be executing against the negligent party. Nonetheless, they are generally tried around the same timeframe.
The reason for this is that, for the former, you and your spouse are seeking financial compensation for the loss of benefits from your marital relationship. And with the latter, your spouse is attempting to recover damages incurred from their bodily injuries, such as medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
You must retain legal representation before you even get close to your scheduled claim proceedings. So please, contact a skilled Miami-Dade County injury lawyer from the Law Offices of Gonzalo Funes, PA, today.
