Colorado § 14-2-209 - Loss of consortium.

§ 14-2-209. Loss of consortium.

In all actions for a tort by a married person, both spouses have an equal right to recover for loss of consortium of his or her spouse.

Source: L. 61: p. 560, § 1. CRS 53: § 90-2-11. C.R.S. 1963: § 90-2-11. L. 2018: Entire part amended, (SB 18-090), ch. 72, p. 638, § 2, effective August 8.

ANNOTATION

While it was true that because of the married women's acts, married women could successfully maintain actions for interference with their rights to consortium which arose from intentional, malicious, or direct action by an outsider, nevertheless, the prevailing opinion and great weight of authority denied such an action to a married woman for indirect, remote, or consequential loss, and thus, a married woman had no right to recover for the loss of consortium alone occasioned by the negligent acts of third persons. Giggey v. Gallagher Transp. Co., 101 Colo. 258, 72 P.2d 1100 (1937) (decided prior to earliest source of this section, L. 61, p. 560, § 1); Franzen v. Zimmerman, 127 Colo. 381, 256 P.2d 897 (1953).

With the enactment of this section the rule denying a wife the right to sue for loss of consortium resulting from injuries inflicted upon her husband changed. Crouch v. West, 29 Colo. App. 72, 477 P.2d 805 (1970).

At the time of the enactment of this statute, the right of a husband to recover for loss of consortium due to injuries inflicted upon his wife had not been denied or restricted by any later or higher authority. Crouch v. West, 29 Colo. App. 72, 477 P.2d 805 (1970).

The general assembly intended to confer such right upon the wife, and to confer it upon her as a separate right similar to that held by married men. Crouch v. West, 29 Colo. App. 72, 477 P.2d 805 (1970).

There may in such situations have been but one wrong, but from it sprang two separate and distinct rights of action, one in the husband and the other in the wife. Crouch v. West, 29 Colo. App. 72, 477 P.2d 805 (1970).

Their actions are wholly distinct and separate from each other, and since there is no privity between them in the connection involved, and adjudication in one could not properly be res judicata in the other. Crouch v. West, 29 Colo. App. 72, 477 P.2d 805 (1970).

Since the claim of the wife is her own right and is a right which is separate from the claims of her husband, it could have been and was validly separated from the pretrial settlement of the husband's claim for his personal injuries. Crouch v. West, 29 Colo. App. 72, 477 P.2d 805 (1970).

Recovery for loss between tort and time of death. Plaintiff bringing an action individually, as widow of the decedent, may recover for "loss of consortium" between the time the tort occurred and the date of decedent's death. Hernandez v. United States, 383 F. Supp. 168 (D. Colo. 1974).

Loss not within former limits of wrongful death statute. Loss of consortium is an independent category, not to be included in those damages formerly limited under the wrongful death statute. Hernandez v. United States, 383 F. Supp. 168 (D. Colo. 1974).