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46 B.C. L. Rev. 391 (2004-2005)
Like Family: Rights of Nonmarried Cohabitational Partners in Loss of Consortium Actions

handle is hein.journals/bclr46 and id is 403 raw text is: LIKE FAMILY: RIGHTS OF NONMARRIED COHABITATIONAL PARTNERS IN LOSS OF CONSORTIUM ACTIONS Abstract: The organization of family life in American society has changed dramatically in recent decades. Changing societal morals and increases in divorce rates mean that fewer households are organized around the traditional nuclear family model. Courts have struggled to understand and classify these alternative family arrangements, and most have denied recovery in actions for loss of consortium by nonmarried cohabitants. This Note argues that changes in related areas of law and in the loss of consortium doctrine itself indicate that nonmarried cohabitants should be allowed to recover. Specifically, judicial understanding of the purpose of loss of consortium recovery has shifted, and nonmarried cohabitants have been allowed to recover in closely analogous actions such as negligent infliction of emotional distress. This Note proposes adoption of a standard similar to the one employed in negligent infliction of emotional distress actions. Such a standard provides a framework to determine whether damage to a relationship is severe enough to be compensable, while still providing adequate safeguards to prevent a wave of frivolous suits. INTRODUCTION Nonmarital cohabitation is a growing trend in American society and has increased rapidly in the past few decades.' Since 1977, the number of cohabitating couples has more than quadrupled.2 This rapid increase in cohabitation and the corresponding decline in mar- riage rates have been described as two of the most significant social changes of our time.3 The increased incidence of nonmarital cohabitation represents a watershed demographic shift in how people organize their intimate and familial relations.4 Indeed, cohabitational relationships account for 12% of all current unions and 31% of all unions for individuals I Lynne M. Casper & Philip N. Cohen, How Does POSSLQ Measure Up? Historical Esti- mates of Cohabitation, 37 DEMOGRAPHY 237, 239 (2000). 2 Id. 3Joshua R. Goldstein & Catherine T. Kenney, Marriage Delayed or Marriage Forgone? New Cohort Forecasts of First Marriage for U.S. Women, 66 Am. Soc. REv. 506, 506-07 (2001). 4 See id. '21

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