Opinion ID: 2341867
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: mitigation evidence on loss of parental consortium claim

Text: At trial, Sandoz and Dr. Armstrong attempted to present evidence of Wesley and Nicholas Gunderson's close relationship with Janice Hays, Ronald Gunderson's girlfriend of the last four years, for the purpose of mitigating damages on their loss of parental consortium claim. They offered avowal testimony that Ms. Hays often stayed overnight at the Gunderson residence, fixed the children breakfast, packed their lunch, helped with their schooling and generally helped care for them when Ronald was working. The Appellants also sought to admit a letter in which Nicholas spoke favorably about Ms. Hays. Sandoz and Dr. Armstrong argued that Ms. Hays' relationship with Wesley and Nicholas was relevant to their loss of parental consortium claim because she provided consortium-giving benefits to the boys which mitigated the loss of consortium with their mother. The Gundersons objected to the admission of such evidence, arguing that the boys' relationship with Ms. Hays could never replace the loss of their mother. The trial court recognized that, while the evidence of the relationship with Hays was arguably relevant to the loss of parental consortium claim, it was not admissible as to Mr. Gunderson's wrongful death claim pursuant to Adams v. Davis, 578 S.W.2d 899, 902 (Ky.App.1979) (holding that evidence of surviving spouse's remarriage is inadmissible in wrongful death action). Reasoning that an admonition limiting the evidence to the parental consortium claim would not be effective, the trial court refused to allow specific evidence of the relationship with Ms. Hays to be admitted. The court did allow, however, general hypothetical questions about how any potential subsequent relationships of Mr. Gunderson's might affect the boys. The Court of Appeals held that evidence of other consortium-giving relationships can be relevant to a child's lost consortium claim if the relationship is sufficiently close and intimate to compare to a parental relationship. The court then concluded that Mr. Gunderson's relationship with Ms. Hays was not of sufficient duration and stability to be admissible in the instant case. The court noted that Mr. Gunderson had only known Ms. Hays for four years and that Ms. Hays did not reside at the Gunderson household exclusively. This issue of whether evidence of other consortium-giving relationships is relevant in a loss of parental consortium claim is one of first impression in Kentucky. This Court first recognized a minor child's independent claim for loss of parental consortium in Kentucky in Giuliani v. Guiler, 951 S.W.2d 318 (Ky.1997). The Giuliani decision, however, provided little guidance as to how such claim was to be proved and the type of evidence that was considered relevant to the claim: The proof of such loss and the necessary proof of monetary loss resulting therefrom are factors to be considered by the trier of fact separate from any wrongful death statute. Id. at 323. Appellants urge this Court to allow the consideration of whether other consortium-giving relationships are available to the child as one factor in determining the amount of damages for loss of parental consortium, as some other jurisdictions have allowed. See Reagan v. Vaughn, 804 S.W.2d 463, 467 (Tex.1990); Belcher v. Goins, 184 W.Va. 395, 400 S.E.2d 830, 842 (1990); Villareal v. Ariz. Dep't. of Transp., 160 Ariz. 474, 774 P.2d 213, 220-21 (1989). Appellants also point to Miller ex. rel . Monticello Baking Co. v. Marymount Medical Center, 125 S.W.3d 274, 285 (Ky.2004), wherein this Court stated that evidence of a spouse's live-in relationship with his girlfriend was relevant to his claim for loss of spousal consortium. While this Court does not seek to minimize the loss of a spouse's consortium, it cannot be denied that a child's loss of a parental consortium is different than an adult's loss of spousal consortium. The Giuliani Court recognized the necessity for protection by the law of a child's unique right to a parent's love, care and protection so as to provide for the complete development of that child. 951 S.W.2d at 320. As acknowledged in Giuliani, [t]he loss suffered by each child in this case is separate and distinct ... from the loss suffered by their father[,] and in any disruption of the parent-child relationship, it is probably the child who suffers most. Id. at 320-21. Furthermore, while an adult is capable of seeking out new relationships in an attempt to fill in the void of his or her loss, a child may be virtually helpless in seeking out a new adult companion. Smith v. Vilvarajah, 57 S.W.3d 839, 843 (Ky.App.2000) (citing Theama v. City of Kenosha, 117 Wis.2d 508, 344 N.W.2d 513, 516 (1984)). Accordingly, the fact that evidence of the spouse's new relationship may be relevant in a loss of spousal consortium case does not persuade this Court that the evidence of the parent's new relationship should be admissible in the child's loss of parental consortium action. The basis of this Court's ruling in Giuliani was that [t]he claim of loss of parental consortium is a reciprocal of the claim of the parents for loss of a child's consortium which was recognized in KRS 411.135. Id. at 321. We agree with the views expressed in Simmons v. University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, 162 Ill.2d 1, 204 Ill.Dec. 645, 642 N.E.2d 107, 114 (1994), wherein the court held that evidence that parents subsequently had two more children was irrelevant in parents' loss of child's consortium claim: [T]he relationship between parent and child is different from that of husband and wife. The parent-child relationship is not replaceable and is not limited to the society of only one child. Every child is unique, and the loss of society a parent suffers upon a child's death cannot be replaced with the society of a child subsequently born. And so it is with a child's loss of a parent, who likewise cannot be replaced. Accordingly, the trial court properly excluded the evidence of Janice Hays' relationship with Nicholas and Wesley Gunderson.