Court Opinion

ID: 9521781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:11:40.366291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:56:17.135965
License: Public Domain

Liacos, J.
(concurring). In light of my dissent in Norman v. Massachusetts Bay Transp. Auth., ante 303 (1988), it may be helpful to the bar to state briefly why I join in the court’s opinion.
*440In the instant case, there was no legally cognizable relationship between the stepparent and the stepchild. Unlike the husband-wife relationship in Diaz v. Eli Lilly & Co., 364 Mass. 153 (1973), and the parent-child relationship in Ferriter v. Daniel O’ Connell’s Sons, 381 Mass. 507 (1980), and in Norman, supra (Liacos, J., dissenting), the stepparent-stepchild relationship does not trigger certain well-established rights and duties under Massachusetts law.
For example, the wrongful death statute, G. L. c. 229, § 1 (1986 ed.), does not provide for a stepchild to recover for the death of a stepparent. See Poyser v. United States, 602 F. Supp. 436, 440 (D. Mass. 1984). Under common law, stepparents are under no legal obligation to support their stepchildren. Brookfield v. Warren, 128 Mass. 287, 288 (1880). Worcester v. Marchant, 14 Pick. 510, 512 (1834). But see Roush v. Director of the Div. of Employment Sec., 377 Mass. 572, 575 (1979) (stepchild may be dependent under G. L. c. 151A [1986 ed.], the Employment Security Law). In addition, the Massachusetts Uniform Statutory Will Act, G. L. c. 191B, § 1 (1986 ed. & Supp. 1987), explicitly excludes stepchildren from its definition of “child” and “issue.”
Just as cohabitants who do not formalize their relationship through a marriage may not recover for loss of consortium, Feliciano v. Rosemar Silver Co., 401 Mass. 141, 142 (1987), so a stepchild whose relationship is not formalized in an adoption proceeding may not recover for such an alleged loss. Limiting loss of consortium claims to members of legally cognizable relationships provides a clear, principled, easily ascertainable standard which adequately distinguishes those entitled to recover from those involved in the “myriad relationships” which exist in society. Id.