Parents have more time to file claims based on child's injury

A parent's loss of consortium claim based on the injury to a child don't have to file suit until the child does, according to a ruling issued today by the Ohio Supreme Court. The Court held that because the parent's claim is inseparable from the claim a child might advance for an auto accident injury or another type of personal injury, the parent enjoys the same expanded statute of limitations as the child. Generally, children have until their 18th birthday, plus the normal statute of limitations to file a lawsuit. So, a child injured in a car accident has until he's 20 to file suit. Now parents have the same window in which to file a loss of companionship or services claim. In the case before the Supreme Court, the defense argued that because the parents' claim was separate from the child's medical malpractice claim, the parents needed to file within the normal statute of limitations. The Court said taking that approach would require separate litigation of similar claims and would be a waste of judicial economy.