Court Opinion

ID: 9770535
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:08:34.870076+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:18.155211
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent because the intent of the Kentucky legislature is abundantly clear in KRS 227.400 that this section should be read to require smoke detectors, with no exceptions given for single family residences. Further support for this interpretation is found in KRS 446.080. I join the dissent of Justice Leibson in regard to the smoke detector issue and his hedonic damages analysis.
However, beyond this claim, I believe that the court should recognize the potential for the claim of a loss of parental consortium. The court previously declined to recognize such a claim in Brooks v. Burkeen, Ky., 549 S.W.2d 91 (1977), because no court or legislature had yet done so. This is no longer the case.
Recognizing a claim for loss of parental consortium is the only appropriate progression of Kentucky law and is in harmony with the public policy objectives behind allowing claims for loss of consortium. The trend of other jurisdictions recognizes that a loss of *118consortium results when the parent-child relationship is diminished in any way. This trend further recognizes that the balance of public policy concerns weighs heavily in favor of children's interests rather than in favor of the interests calling for a bar to recovery.
Recognition of a tort compensating for loss of parental consortium falls in line with the trend of the law in Kentucky to provide compensation for victims. From a very early date, the common law recognized a right of action in the master when a servant was tortiously injured because the master would suffer a loss of services in addition to whatever loss the servant suffered. By 1619, this idea was expanded and a husband was allowed to recover from the tortfeasor who had injured his wife. Recovery in these situations initially emphasized a loss of “services” but it is now clear that the husband’s recovery for loss of consortium includes damages for loss of sexual attentions, society and affection, as well as for medical expenditures made on his wife’s behalf. A majority of states now allow the loss of consortium claim to either spouse, as a matter of reform in the common law or as a matter of equal protection under Constitutional or statutory provisions. W. Page Keeton, et ah, Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts, § 125 at 931 (5th ed. 1984). In 1970, this Court recognized that a wife had a right to recover for personal damage resulting from the negligent infliction of injuries upon her husband. Kotsiris v. Ling, Ky., 451 S.W.2d 411 (1970). Today, Kentucky provides for damages for loss of consortium for spouses by statute. KRS 411.145.
Under the common law rule, a father was entitled to the services of his child, and therefore, he was entitled to recover for a loss of services or earning capacity when the child was tortiously injured. W. Page Kee-ton, et a!., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts, § 125 at 931, 934 (5th ed. 1984). However, when the child was negligently injured, the parent had no claim for loss of the child’s society and companionship. A partial exception to this rule developed under the wrongful death statutes in some states. For example, the loss of the child’s society, companionship or affection may be recoverable in damages for a surviving parent. More specifically, in Kentucky, surviving parents may recover for loss of affection and companionship in a wrongful death action. KRS 411.135.
However, the interest of the child in proper parental care and affection ran into difficulties when a defendant was negligent in causing an injury to the parent. In such cases, the parent was entitled to recover for economic harms, such as lost wages, and theoretically the child was indirectly protected against loss of support. Yet, theré was no protection given to the child for loss of society, guidance, and attention that resulted from cases of parental injury. Finally, several states have begun to recognize the error of such reasoning and have declared that children have a cause of action for loss of parental consortium. Child’s Right of Action for Loss of Support, Training, Parental Attention, Or the Like, Against a Third Person Negligently Injuring Parent, 11 A.L.R.4th 549.
Kentucky has recognized a cause of action for loss of consortium in favor of spouses. We have also held that parents have an independent cause of action for loss of services and other pecuniary damages resulting from negligent injuries to their minor children. Thus, the next logical step is for Kentucky to provide children a claim for relief when their parent is severely injured. When such recovery is allowed to other, equally significant family members, there is no reason to deprive children of compensation for loss of their parent’s love and affection, while allowing a parent or a spouse to recover.
Recognition of a parental consortium claim is in accord with the public policy goals behind permitting claims for loss of consortium. The balance of public policy concerns weighs heavily in favor of the interests of the child rather than in favor of the interests calling for a bar to recovery. Jurisdictions which have refused to recognize recovery for loss of parental consortium have usually done so out of a fear of multiplicity of actions, the difficulty of assessing damages, the fear of double recovery or the burden which might be placed on society. However, all of these concerns are outweighed by the need to protect children. Logic, justice, and public poli-*119ey demand protection of their interest in the family relationship.
Courts which have accepted a cause of action for loss of parental consortium have found the concerns of double recovery and speculation on the appropriate amount of damages recoverable to be unfounded. The injury in a loss of parental consortium claim is no more remote than the injury in a spouse’s cause of action for loss of consortium, which Kentucky already recognizes. Additionally, the injury is no more remote than in a claim for damages for wrongful death of a child, which is also recognized in Kentucky. Moreover, courts have recognized that duplicity of recovery can be easily avoided by a proper jury instruction that the child’s damages are separate and distinct from the parent’s injury.
The cause of action for loss of parental consortium was first recognized in 1980 by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Ferriter v. Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, Inc., 381 Mass. 507, 413 N.E.2d 690, 696 (1980). This Court should join the trend of other jurisdictions and recognize a claim for loss of parental consortium.
I would reverse the Court of Appeals and the Circuit Court.
STUMBO, J., joins in this dissent.