Managing Partner
When someone is seriously injured in California, the spouse or registered domestic partner often suffers harm too. A loss of consortium claim recognizes that injuries can damage the relationship, intimacy, companionship, and shared life you once had. These claims allow you to seek compensation for the personal losses that do not appear on a medical bill but still affect your everyday life.
What Loss of Consortium Means in California
Loss of consortium refers to the harm a spouse or registered domestic partner experiences when an injury disrupts the relationship. It covers the loss of love, support, comfort, intimacy, guidance, and the shared enjoyment of life. California treats these losses as non-economic damages, meaning they do not have a fixed price.
A consortium claim is tied to the injured person’s lawsuit. You cannot bring it alone. It must be filed alongside the underlying personal injury action or wrongful death claim.
Key components of consortium damages include:
- Loss of affection and companionship
- Loss of emotional support
- Loss of physical closeness and intimacy
- Loss of household services or shared responsibilities
- Strain on the relationship due to long-term disability or behavioral changes
These claims acknowledge that an injury affects both partners, even if only one was physically hurt.
Who Can Bring a Loss of Consortium Claim in California
California limits these claims to legally recognized spouses and registered domestic partners. Long-term partners who are not registered with the state cannot pursue consortium damages, no matter how long they have been together.
You may have a viable consortium claim if:
- You were married or in a registered domestic partnership at the time of the injury
- The injury caused a measurable disruption in your relationship
- The harm resulted from another party’s wrongful conduct
Parents, children, siblings, and fiancés cannot bring loss of consortium claims in California personal injury cases.
How Intangible Losses Are Valued
Because consortium harms do not come with receipts, valuing them requires a close look at the lived experience of both partners. Courts and juries evaluate these losses individually, focusing on how the injury changed the relationship.
Common factors include:
- The stability and closeness of the relationship before the injury
- Daily activities you can no longer share
- The psychological effect of the injury on your partnership
- Long-term prognosis, including permanent disability
- Whether the injury caused depression, irritability, or personality changes that affect the marriage
We help clients express these experiences clearly so that a jury understands the depth of the change, not just the surface issues.
Differences Between Injury Cases and Death Cases
Loss of consortium is available in California only when the injured person survives. If the injured partner dies, the spouse may instead pursue wrongful death damages, which cover different categories of losses.
In injury cases, consortium damages focus on disruptions to the relationship moving forward.
In death cases, the surviving spouse can seek compensation for loss of companionship and support, but the claim is brought under the wrongful death statute rather than as a consortium claim.
Both types of cases look at the relationship, but the legal structure and valuation differ.
How Juries Assess Non-Economic Consortium Damages
Juries have wide discretion when determining non-economic damages. They do not follow a formula. Instead, they consider testimony, the couple’s history, and the permanency of the injury.
Typical sources of evidence include:
- Testimony from both partners about how daily life changed
- Statements from friends or family describing noticeable differences
- Medical evidence showing how the injury limits the injured spouse
- Proof of long-term disability or chronic pain that strains the relationship
Jurors evaluate credibility, the severity of the injury, and the authenticity of the relationship’s disruption. Strong storytelling, supported by clear evidence, often leads to fair results.
Protecting Your Rights When a Partner’s Injury Affects Your Life
A serious injury can reshape a relationship in ways that are hard to explain and even harder to measure. You do not have to carry those losses alone. The attorneys at Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook can help you understand your options and pursue the compensation the law allows.
Contact us today to discuss your loss of consortium claim and how we can support you during this process.