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PERSONAL INJURY: Supreme Court overturned a $4.5 million loss of consortium award as a “product of sympathy or partiality”

The Estate of William Ashmore brought action against Hartford Hospital where William Ashmore died when hospital personnel failed to reconnect the wires of his pacemaker before administering a potent narcotic.  The jury awarded $4.5 million in loss of consortium claim to his spouse, $1.2 million in non-economic damages, and $75,000 in economic damages.  The defendant filed a Motion for Remittitur to reduce the loss of consortium award, which the trial court denied, and the Supreme Court held the trial court erred in denying the Motion.  The Supreme Court reasoned that where the loss of consortium award is substantially greater than the economic and noneconomic damages, a suspicion arises that the loss of consortium award was the “product of sympathy or partiality toward the deprived spouse or prejudice against the defendant.”  Marjorie Ashmore v. Administrix (Estate of William Ashmore), Et Al v. Hartford Hospital, Et Al, SC 20052, June 4, 2019