Jones v. Elliott

WALSH, Justice:

This is an appeal from a grant of summary judgment by the Superior Court barring a wife from pursuing a claim for loss of consortium arising out of injuries sustained by her husband. The Superior Court ruled that wife’s claim was purely derivative of husband’s personal injury action and was subsequently foreclosed by a general release executed by the husband. We disagree and hold that although a cause of action for loss of consortium requires join-der with a spouse’s primary claim, the loss of consortium claim is not lost if the spouse asserting the primary claim precludes…