Loss of consortium is the claim a family member makes for what a serious injury took out of their relationship with the injured person: the companionship, affection, comfort and help they used to have. In Texas the Supreme Court has recognized it for a husband or wife and for a child of the injured person, but not for a parent of a child who survives.
The short version
- It is mostly case law. The Texas Supreme Court created the spousal claim in Whittlesey v. Miller and the child’s claim in Reagan v. Vaughn; the Legislature only lists it as a kind of noneconomic damage (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.001(12)).
- Spouses and children can claim; surviving children’s parents cannot. Roberts v. Williamson (Tex. 2003) declined to give parents a claim when a child is hurt but lives.
- It rides on the injured person’s case. The family member must prove the defendant is liable for the injury, and the injured person’s share of fault reduces the award.
- Death changes the route. A death case is a statutory wrongful death action for the spouse, children and parents (§ 71.004(a)).
- It is not the family member’s own distress. Texas treats a mental anguish claim as separate from consortium.
What is loss of consortium in Texas?
It is the loss of the relationship’s benefits: love, affection, companionship, comfort and practical help. Texas treats it as an element of damages that a spouse or child can recover when someone else’s fault seriously injures their husband, wife or parent. The statute places it among the noneconomic damages a jury may award.
The Legislature’s definition of noneconomic damages names “loss of consortium” next to physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement and “loss of companionship and society” (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.001(12), read October 16, 2026). The statute does not say who may claim it or when. Those rules come from the courts.
The leading ruling for spouses is Whittlesey v. Miller, 572 S.W.2d 665 (Tex. 1978). As the Texas Supreme Court quoted it in later opinions, Whittlesey held that “either spouse has a cause of action for loss of consortium that might arise as a result of an injury caused to the other spouse by a third party tortfeasor’s negligence.” Reagan also quotes Whittlesey on the use of words: “loss of consortium” is “more accurately described as an element of damage rather than a cause of action,” though courts use the phrase for suits where it is the main loss. These quotations are taken from the later opinions, not from the Whittlesey opinion itself. The holding is quoted in Reagan v. Vaughn and in Roberts v. Williamson, and the remark about words appears in a footnote to Reagan; those two opinions were opened and read October 16, 2026.
It sits beside the other categories described in our guide to how Texas sorts crash damages. That guide covers the categories; this article covers who can bring this one.
If a crash has just happened, the steps in what to do after a car accident protect both claims.
Who can claim loss of consortium in Texas after a car accident?
A husband or wife of the injured person, and a child of a parent whose injuries are serious, permanent and disabling. Parents of an injured child who lives cannot, and the Texas Supreme Court has also refused the claim to siblings and stepparents. Which relationships count is a question of case law, not the statute.
| Relationship to the injured person | Claim for a non-fatal injury? | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Husband or wife | Yes, when a third party’s negligence injures the other spouse. | Whittlesey v. Miller, 572 S.W.2d 665 (Tex. 1978). |
| Child, including an adult child | Yes, when the parent’s injuries are “serious, permanent, and disabling.” | Reagan v. Vaughn, 804 S.W.2d 463 (Tex. 1990). |
| Parent of a child who survives | No. The court declined “to extend a claim for loss of consortium to parents of children who have been seriously injured.” | Roberts v. Williamson, 111 S.W.3d 113 (Tex. 2003). |
| Sibling or stepparent | No. Roberts describes Ford Motor Co. v. Miles (Tex. 1998) as rejecting both. | Roberts, citing 967 S.W.2d 377, 383-84. |
| Spouse, child or parent of a person who died | A wrongful death action is available instead, for the “exclusive benefit” of those three groups. | Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004(a). |
Because the rules are judge-made, a relationship the cases have not addressed, such as an unmarried partner, is a question to put to an attorney rather than assume.
Is loss of consortium a derivative claim in Texas?
Yes. In Reagan the Texas Supreme Court wrote that the claim is “derivative of the parent’s claim for personal injuries,” so the family member must prove the defendant is liable for the injured person’s injuries, and any defense that limits that liability limits the consortium claim too.
Negligence itself is the subject of our overview of tort law in a Houston car accident. That makes the two claims travel together. If the driver is not liable to the injured spouse, there is nothing for the other spouse to recover on. If a jury finds the injured spouse partly at fault, the consortium award shrinks with it. The family member still owns the claim, which is why a husband or wife is a plaintiff in their own name. The case for liability begins with proof of what happened on the road, from independent eyewitnesses to scene photographs, serves both claims at once.
In Harris County the suit itself is filed with the civil district courts. The District Clerk’s civil courts page lists personal injury and damages among the case types those courts hear, and its civil intake office is at 201 Caroline, Suite 110, in downtown Houston (Harris County District Clerk, Civil Courts).
How does the injured person’s share of fault affect the claim?
It reduces the award. The Reagan court stated that any percentage of negligence attributable to the injured parent reduces the child’s recovery, and Texas’s proportionate-responsibility statute shuts out a claimant who is found over 50 percent at fault.
Two statutory pieces fit together here. The 50 percent bar is in § 33.001, the percentage reduction in § 33.012(a), and § 33.011(1) defines “claimant” to include both the injured person and anyone who “is seeking, has sought, or could seek recovery of damages” for that person’s injury (all in chapter 33, text read October 16, 2026).
Reagan shows the arithmetic in a real case. David Reagan was in a fight in the parking lot of a Pasadena, Texas, saloon when the bar’s manager hit him on the head with a baseball bat; he was left with a severe brain injury. The jury found Reagan 40 percent negligent and awarded his daughter Julia $405,000, of which $200,000 was for loss of parental care, nurture and guidance. The Supreme Court restored the $200,000 consortium award, and on rehearing noted that a parent’s percentage of fault would reduce the child’s recovery under the comparative negligence statute, though the defendants had waived that point in that case by not raising it on rehearing.
How shared fault is decided in an ordinary crash is explained in our article on the 51 percent bar and fault percentages. Insurers raise fault early, as the tactics adjusters use in Houston claims show.
What is loss of consortium in a wrongful death case?
When the injured person dies, the family’s claim is a statutory wrongful death action, that only the surviving spouse, children and parents benefit from. The jury may award damages “proportionate to the injury resulting from the death,” and the Texas Supreme Court has described loss of companionship as part of that recovery.
The beneficiaries are fixed by Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.004(a) and the measure by § 71.010(a). If none of them sues within three calendar months, the estate’s executor or administrator must bring the action unless all of them ask the executor not to (§ 71.004(c)). Suit generally must follow within two years of the death (§ 16.003(b)).
Here parents are included. Roberts notes that Texas lets parents “recover consortium damages in wrongful death cases,” and that all statutory beneficiaries may recover for loss of companionship and also mental anguish. That is the paradox the dissent in Roberts called out: parents can recover for a child’s death but not for a child’s lasting injury.
On April 28, 2026, KPRC 2 reported that the husband of Jefferson County reserve deputy constable Heather Avery had filed suit against a trucking company and a Houston highway contractor after she was killed in an I-10 construction zone in Chambers County (KPRC 2, April 28, 2026). The report does not say which damages the petition seeks; it shows one spouse filing suit after a fatal crash. The people who can file are laid out in our guide to who may bring a Texas death claim, and the practice pages on wrongful death suits and fatal car accidents describe how Maida Law Firm approaches them.
How do you prove a loss of consortium claim?
You prove two things: that the defendant is liable for the injury, and what the injury changed in your relationship. For a child’s claim, the Texas Supreme Court listed factors a jury may weigh, including how severe the parent’s injury is, its real effect on the relationship, and the child’s age.
The list in Reagan reads: “the severity of the injury to the parent and its actual effect upon the parent-child relationship, the child’s age, the nature of the child’s relationship with the parent, the child’s emotional and physical characteristics, and whether other consortium giving relationships are available to the child.” Spousal claims turn on the same kind of before-and-after evidence, though that list was written for children.
In practice that evidence is ordinary: how the household worked before, who did what, what the injured person can no longer do, and how friends and relatives saw the change. Medical records establish the injury, which is why proving that a crash worsened an earlier condition and expert testimony often matter in these cases. Before any recorded call, read why to speak with a lawyer before the adjuster, and be careful with what you hand an insurer; our piece on releasing medical records to an adjuster explains why.
There is no formula. The claim is valued by the jury, and the court in Reagan said it is not a claim for the family member’s own grief: “loss of consortium does not include an element of mental anguish.”
Why can’t a parent claim when a child survives?
The Texas Supreme Court decided in Roberts v. Williamson that the parent-child relationship is not reciprocal the way a marriage is, that the child needs special protection, and that “Tort law, however, cannot remedy every wrong.” It left the injured child’s own claim as the way to recover.
The facts were hard. A jury had awarded parents $75,000 for past loss of consortium after their young daughter suffered a brain injury in a medical malpractice case. The Supreme Court rendered judgment that the parents take nothing on that claim. It reasoned that when a child survives, “so does the child’s own cause of action against the tortfeasor,” so no other family member is needed to keep the wrongdoer from escaping liability.
For a Houston parent whose child was hurt in a crash, that leaves the child’s own claim as the route. Whether any other loss of yours is recoverable is a question to put to an attorney in a free consultation.
What kinds of crashes lead to consortium claims?
Any crash that seriously injures a spouse or parent through someone else’s fault can. The claim rises or falls with the injured person’s own case, so the crash type decides the defendants and the proof, not the consortium claim itself.
On Houston roads those cases come from several sources, and each has its own practice page: 18-wheeler collisions, motorcycle crashes, pedestrians struck by cars, hit-and-run drivers and drunk driving. The general page on Houston car accident claims and the broader personal injury practice sit above them.
What the consortium claim adds to any of these is the family’s side of the harm. If you are weighing how a claim fits together over time, our estimate of how long a Texas injury case runs and the statutory framework in how the law measures a crash claim are useful starting points. Questions worth bringing to a first meeting are collected in what to ask a Houston injury attorney, and what to gather beforehand is in the case evaluation checklist. Your own policy may also respond, as uninsured motorist coverage explains, and fees are explained in what a Houston accident lawyer charges.
Frequently asked questions
Is loss of consortium a separate cause of action?
It belongs to the family member, who files in their own name, but it depends on the injured person’s case. The Texas Supreme Court said in Reagan v. Vaughn that the family member must prove the defendant is liable for the injured person’s injuries and that defenses limiting that liability limit the consortium claim.
What does loss of consortium mean in a lawsuit?
It means the loss of a family relationship’s benefits after a serious injury, such as companionship, affection, comfort and help. In Reagan v. Vaughn the court listed a child’s loss of the parent’s love, affection, protection, emotional support, services, companionship, care and society as recoverable.
Can an unmarried partner claim loss of consortium in Texas?
The opinions read for this article recognize spouses and children, and the Supreme Court has refused siblings and stepparents. None of them gives an unmarried partner the claim, and courts of appeals were not searched, so whether a particular relationship counts is a question to raise with an attorney.
Can adult children claim loss of consortium for an injured parent?
Yes. In Reagan v. Vaughn the court declined to limit the claim to minor children, quoting that although minors are most likely to suffer real harm, the court leaves it to the jury to consider in fixing damages. The parent’s injuries must still be serious, permanent and disabling.
Can I recover for my own emotional distress as well?
Not as part of consortium. Reagan v. Vaughn calls negligent infliction of mental anguish a separate claim that requires being at or near the scene and a contemporaneous, sensory observation of the incident. Julia Reagan did not meet those requirements and could not recover mental anguish.
How long do I have to file a loss of consortium claim?
The general Texas limit for personal injury suits is two years from the day the cause of action accrues (§ 16.003(a)), and two years from the death in a death case (§ 16.003(b)). That section does not mention consortium by name, so have an attorney confirm your own deadline promptly.
Does it cost anything to find out whether I have a claim?
Asking costs nothing. A short written summary of who was hurt, when and how is enough to start, and the fee question can be put to any lawyer before agreeing to anything.
About the authors
Sam A. Maida, Jr.
Owner and Managing Attorney
Sam A. Maida, Jr. has represented injured Texans in the greater Houston area since the firm opened in 1993.
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Bernard G. Johnson III
Litigation Managing Attorney
Bernard G. Johnson III is a board certified trial lawyer licensed in Texas since 1996 and a graduate of South Texas College of Law.