Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

In Kentucky, a recent Kentucky Supreme Court ruling has expanded spousal rights to sue for loss of consortium. The old law in Kentucky for a personal injury wrongful death case was that a spouse was entitled to loss of consortium up until the time that the other spouse died. But, with recent large accidents that have left a lot of spouses without their loved ones, such as the 2006 Comair Flight 5191 crash in Lexington, Kentucky, and widows of deceased miners, the Supreme Court took it upon itself to change the law. As a personal injury lawyer, Mr. Alitowski can explain to you all you need to know about personal injury wrongful death cases.

The case that helped change the law was a case where a wife, who had a husband who was disabled and completely dependent on his wife, was involved in a car accident. She died on the way to the hospital. The husband sued for loss of consortium and the jury awarded him damages, but the trial court only allowed the damages for his loss during the short time between his wife’s accident and her death. The Kentucky personal injury wrongful death law had been common law which only allowed damages for loss of consortium up to the time of death. The husband appealed and the Kentucky Supreme Court reversed holding that common sense would allow damages for the loss of marital companionship for the time after death. It used to be for only during the time between wrongful injury and death, but the Kentucky Supreme Court has now expanded the time for a spouse in which he or she can recover. And in the case of the man who was disabled and completely relied on his wife, you can see how this new ruling really makes sense.