Loss of consortium is a separate cause of action, usually brought by the spouse of an injured plaintiff, compensating for the loss of companionship, affection, sexual relations, and household services the uninjured spouse suffers as a result of the primary victim's injury. Some jurisdictions extend a version of the claim to parents or children in cases of severe injury or wrongful death.

Because a consortium claim is derivative, it typically cannot exist without an underlying viable claim by the injured party, and any defense that defeats the primary claim, such as a statute of limitations bar or a comparative fault finding, generally limits or defeats the consortium claim as well. The claim is valued largely through jury discretion, informed by the severity and permanence of the primary injury.

Juricratic links a modeled consortium claim to the primary injury claim's outcome branch rather than simulating it independently, so any dial that changes the primary claim's liability or severity findings automatically propagates to the dependent consortium exposure, preserving the derivative relationship the doctrine requires.

Personal injury counsel evaluate whether to add a spouse as a co-plaintiff for loss of consortium in catastrophic injury cases, since it can meaningfully increase total case value, while defense counsel scrutinize the marital relationship's timing and stability and challenge consortium damages as duplicative of the primary plaintiff's non-economic award.