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To prove a loss of consortium claim, a plaintiff must establish the loss of the companionship and fellowship of husband and wife and the right of each to the company, cooperation and aid of the other in every conjugal relation. Consortium means much more than mere sexual relation and consists, also, of that affection, solace, comfort, companionship, conjugal life, fellowship, society and assistance so necessary to a successful marriage.

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To prove a loss of consortium claim, a plaintiff must establish the loss of the companionship and fellowship of husband and wife and the right of each to the company, cooperation and aid of the other in every conjugal relation. Consortium means much more than mere sexual relation and consists, also, of that affection, solace, comfort, companionship, conjugal life, fellowship, society and assistance so necessary to a successful marriage.

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FLORIDA STATE COURTS

Supreme Court: Gates v. Foley, 247 So. 2d 40, 43 (Fla. 1971).

Second District: Peterson v. Sun State Intern. Trucks, LLC, 56 So.3d 840, 842 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011).

Third District: Castro v. Linfante, 307 So.3d 110, 112 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020); Wills v. Snapper Creek Nursing Home, Inc., 465 So. 2d 562, 563–64 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985).

Fourth District: Plantation Gen’l Hosp. Lmt. P’ship v. Division of Adm. Hrgs, 243 So.3d 985, 991 (Fla. 4^th DCA 2018); Philip Morris USA Inc. v. McCall, 234 So. 3d 4, 11-12 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017).

FLORIDA FEDERAL COURTS

Southern District: Silverstein v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharm., 2020 WL 6110909, *10 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 7 2020); Woods v. Paradis, 380 F. Supp. 2d 1316, 1331 (S.D. Fla. 2005).

Middle District:  Mounts v. United States, 2017 WL 5307763, *11 (M.D. Fla. 2017); Pierson v. Orlando Reg’l Healthcare Sys., Inc., No. 608CV466ORL28GJK, 2009 WL 2151176, at *2 (M.D. Fla. July 13, 2009).

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2 Defenses to Claim for Loss of Consortium – Spouse

(1) Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(d) (pleading affirmative defenses), and other standard defenses. See § 1.

(2) To bring a claim for loss of consortium against a government agency the spouse must give notice under Florida Statute Section 768.28. Metropolitan Dade County v. Reyes, 688 So.2d 311 (Fla. 1996): Calero v. Metropolitan Dade County, 787 So.2d 911, 912 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001)(same).

(3) Loss of consortium claims are derivative, but nonetheless separate and distinct, causes of action. As such, they must be timely in their own right for purposes of the statute of limitations. Castro v. Linfante, 307 So.3d 110, 113 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020); Philip Morris USA Inc. v. McCall, 234 So. 3d 4, 12 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017).

(4) To bring a claim for loss of consortium, the parties must have been married at the time the injury occurred. Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Rintoul, 2022 WL 1482413, *8 (Fla. 4th DCA May 11, 2022) (rejecting a loss of consortium claim even when the parties had been in a long term committed relationship and were only not married because same sex marriage was not legal in Florida at the time).

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