Sandusky parents have more time to file loss of consortium claims

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the parents of Sandusky children injured in an auto accident or through some other type of negligence have an expanded time to file lawsuits.

The Court ruled today that because the parent’s loss of consortium claim is inseparable from the claim a child might advance for an injury, the parent enjoys the same expanded statute of limitations as the child.

Generally, children have until their 18th birthday, plus the normal statute of limitations to file a lawsuit. So, a child injured in a car accident has until he’s 20 to file suit. Now parents have the same window in which to file a loss of companionship or services claim.

In the case before the Supreme Court, the defense argued that because the parents’ claim was separate from the child’s medical malpractice claim, the parents needed to file within the normal statute of limitations. The Court said taking that approach would require separate litigation of similar claims and would be a waste of judicial economy.

We hold that because a parent’s claim for loss of consortium against a third party for injuries to the parent’s minor child is an interest that is “joint and inseparable” from the child’s own claim for purposes of R.C. 2305.16, the parent’s claim may be tolled during the child’s disability.