Back in March, I posted a piece about a case scheduled to be heard by the First District Court of Appeal of Florida regarding the rights (or lack there of) of non-married couples to bring a loss of consortium claim in personal injury lawsuits.
Yesterday the First DCA issued its opinion and refused to extend Florida law to recognize loss of consortium claims for non-married persons.
Briefly, the common law in Florida requires as a condition precedent to a loss of consortium claim that there be a valid marriage between the injured plaintiff and the spouse. Despite this, Judith Bashaway sought loss of consortium recovery based upon her committed relationship to her partner, Melinda Garrison, after Garrison was severly injured in an automobile accident.
Judge Karen Cole granted defendants' motion to dismiss Bashaway's claim for failure to state a cause of action recognized under Florida law. The appeal followed.
To simplify the decision, the First DCA affirmed Judge Cole's order, confirming that "a consortium claim under Florida law is a derivative claim dependent upon legal status that does not exist in the present case." In otherwords, Florida does not recognize same sex marriages. Therefore, Bashaway does not have the legal status as Garrison's wife and thus cannot sustain her loss of consortium claim.
So what's the next step? Bashaway will have to move the First DCA to certify the issue as one of great public importance (this motion is due May 30). Assuming this motion is granted, then the Florida Supreme Court will take up the case with oral argument to follow.
Anyone interested in watching the oral argument, held at Florida Coastal on March 20, 2008, go to mms://videoserver.1dca.org/video/3-20-08-1.wmv.
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