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Tort Law Supreme Court Opinion

by Agati, Taryn

 

SC21005 - L. L. v. Newell Brands, Inc. ("Over the past one-half century, this court has twice recognized a cause of action for loss of consortium. In Hopson v. St. Mary's Hospital, 176 Conn. 485, 408 A.2d 260 (1979), this court recognized a claim for the loss of the consortium of an injured spouse; id., 496; defined to encompass both the tangible elements of consortium, such as a spouse's household services and financial support, and the intangible elements, including a spouse's "affection, society, [and] companionship . . . ." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 487. Thirty-six years later, in Campos v. Coleman, 319 Conn. 36, 123 A.3d 854 (2015), this court further extended a tortfeasor's liability to a minor child's loss of the consortium of an injured parent. Id., 57. The sole issue in this case, which comes to us on certification from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, is whether we should further expand the scope of liability by recognizing a parent's claim for the loss of the consortium of an injured minor child. We decline to do so.")