CBIA - NO COMPASSION

CBIA – NO COMPASSION

I knew that I would get around to addressing the heartless attitude of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association for last week’s email to its membership criticizing the legislature’s judiciary committee’s vote for Raised Bill No. 1268. The proposed legislation would permit a family member (parent or child) to make a claim for damages in the event of death or permanent injury to a parent in the case of a child claimant or to a child in the case of a parent claimant.

These types of claims are sometimes known as “loss of parental consortium” or "loss of filial consortium.” Consistent with its single minded devotion to opposing any enlightened legislation calculated to make the world a better place, CBIA opposes the recognition of the legitimate scope of damages that can occur to the family unit when injury is wrongfully inflicted. CBIA flails to criticize the legislation complaining that there are no age limits set and sounding an alarm that this is the slippery slope to more causes of action, double recoveries and making claims more expensive to resolve.

Loss of consortium is presently recognized in Connecticut as a valid cause of action by the non-injured spouse in the case of the injured spouse. As a practical matter, good lawyers do not frequently pursue spousal consortium claims in the absence of death or significant injury that substantially interferes with life and life style. Often these claims are withdrawn before the start of trial so as not to distract the jury from the more severe claim.

However, aside from the role that sexual intimacy places in a spousal context, the losses that a child may suffer when a parent is killed or permanently injured; or the loss of a parent when a child is killed or permanently injured, may be as grave if not more compelling than the losses involving only spouses. It is most often devastating for a child to lose a parent or to experience life with a parent with a crippling injury. The lack of parental guidance can lead to catastrophe including a lifetime of insecurity and psychological problems. Children look to their parents for so much.

And what of the loss of a child to death or permanent injury? Should the parent become a lifetime caregiver to a child who suffers a traumatic brain injury be destined to suffer caregiver burnout? Or suppose the parent is a senior citizen who depends upon an adult child to provide care during the twilight of life. Hasn’t that parent suffered an emotional but also economic loss for which there is no recourse under the law presently unless there is resort to public assistance?

While the CBIA is busy ignoring the humanistic approach to life and focusing only upon whether an insurance premium might rise a few dollars, the legislature has it in its power to elevate the value of life and family relationships and to recognize that those relationships provide nurture, counsel, support and economic value. We all have the right to such relationships and if we are deprived through the fault of a drunk driver, medical negligence, a faulty product or a defective building, there should be a remedy.