Interpersonal relationships make life meaningful. When you married your spouse, you likely planned for a lifetime of love and affection. If you have parents or children, you also probably rely on them for a variety of types of emotional support. When someone close to you dies or suffers a serious injury, you may feel a void that you can never fill.
As you know, the law has some strange terminology. If you have lost a loved one in a motor vehicle accident, construction accident or another type of accident, you may need to know about loss of consortium.
Understanding lost consortium
It is almost impossible to quantify the love, affection and emotional support you get from those closest to you. After all, physical intimacy, conversation and other meaningful moments with your loved ones improve the quality of your life.
When someone’s actions cause someone you love to die or sustain a serious injury, you miss out on important aspects that many take for granted. While you simply cannot bring your loved one back to life or reverse a debilitating injury, you may be able to seek compensation from whoever was responsible.
Evaluating your recovery
In the Lone Star State, loss of consortium claims derive from other claims. When evaluating your claim, courts consider your relationship. As such, you must provide information about your loss of consortium. Then, courts assign fault to determine how much you receive. If your loved one was partially responsible for his or her injuries or death, you can expect the court to reduce the amount of your award. If your loved one was mostly responsible, though, you may not be able to recover at all for loss of consortium.
If someone close to you suffers a serious injury or dies because of someone else’s actions, you may never feel the same again. Fortunately, you may be able to seek compensation for your loss of consortium. While a monetary settlement does not make the pain go away, it may help you to move on with your life.
