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Emotional Distress Overview
Emotional distress damages are often awarded in car accident injury lawsuits to compensate for emotional trauma.
In a lawsuit, damages are the monetary award paid to plaintiffs as compensation for an injury or a loss. There are numerous categories of damages, including compensatory damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, special damages, and their various sub-categories.
Although navigating a claim for damages may be complicated, damages for emotional distress may be especially so, because the harms they’re meant to compensate are not easy to measure.
Emotional distress damages may be recovered to compensate plaintiffs for emotional strain or injury that occurred as a result of an injury or accident. These damages provide monetary recovery for the psychological impact of an injury. Emotional distress is an umbrella term that may include sleep loss, anxiety, fear, and any other manifestation of psychological impact.
Unlike claims for physical injury, claims for emotional distress are often placed under more scrutiny than other claims because they are difficult to prove. But documentation and the help of an experienced attorney may help individuals recover this variety of compensation after a car accident.
Recovering Emotional Distress Damages
If an individual believes that they have sustained emotional damages as a result of a car accident or other injury, the most important thing they can do is document their experience. Most plaintiffs in injury lawsuits have sought medical attention and continued treatment for their injury and have told their doctor about any psychological symptoms they’ve experienced.
A daily journal of symptoms and documentation of medical treatment may be vital in recovering emotional damages down the road. Even if treatment has only included seeing therapist, documentation is key and no detail is too small.
Should the court rule in the favor of awarding this type of recovery, emotional distress damages may be paid out to plaintiffs under “non-economic damages”. Many states implement laws to limit the amount plaintiffs are able to recover in non-economic damages, but the recovery for these damages can be significant.
According to Forbes, damages for emotional distress differ from other damages in that they are taxable. However, the news source notes that “wording is important”, as emotional distress caused by a sickness or injury may be argued as not taxable based on current laws and definitions. The tax consequences of a damage award is one more topic plaintiffs should discuss with a legal professional.
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress v. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
In the case of a car accident, most emotional damages will be won through claims of negligent infliction of emotional distress. These claims argue that a defendant caused distress to the plaintiff through negligent actions. Various legal rules apply to these situations. In rarer cases, claiming negligent infliction of emotional distress may allow the bystander to a car accident or injury to collect damages.
Intentional infliction of emotional distress differs in that these claims argue that a defendant was “grossly” negligent or intended to cause emotional distress through their actions. Road rage car accident lawsuits may be eligible for this type of claim, which is filed separately from negligent infliction of emotional distress.
