Loss of Consortium

LOC a Separate Action

            In a case decided in July in Oxford County Superior Court, Sutton v. Sunday River, the court confirmed the proposition that a husband or wife’s claim for “loss of consortium” resulting from an injury to that person’s spouse is a separate cause of action.  This ruling is consistent with a decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court handed down earlier this year.

            Many in the legal community have long assumed that since the spouse’s claim is derivative and dependent on the claim of the injured person and since both arise from the same set of facts and are subject to the same defenses, the loss of consortium claim could not be brought as a separate action.

            This recent case in Oxford County and the earlier Law Court decision now make it clear, however, that the two claims may be brought independently of each other.  Thus if the injured party proceeds with his or her injury claim without including any claim for the emotional or other damage suffered by the spouse, the spouse is entitled to bring a separate lawsuit later to recover for his or her separate collateral injuries.