Mental distress accompanies most bodily injuries. Suffering from pain and immobility can lead to depression, anxiety, or anger as accident victims are unable to leave the house. Fortunately, many accident victims can request compensation for personal injury emotional distress. Call Kaufman & McPherson today to speak with a West Virginia personal injury lawyer about your accident and injuries. Emotional distress is hard to quantify, but we have the experience to maximize your compensation.
Is Emotional Distress a Personal Injury?
Yes. Personal injury cases are based on injuries to individuals (instead of injuries to businesses). These personal injuries stem from violent, often traumatic accidents. Many people suffer serious injuries when they are involved in car accidents, truck collisions, pedestrian accidents, or slip and falls.
Emotional distress is a natural consequence of many accidents. There are two ways that people suffer from emotional distress:
- Distress as a consequence of bodily pain and limitations. Struggling with bodily pain can make anyone depressed or irritable. Other people are frustrated when they cannot move, so they might slip into depression. Demanding compensation in this situation is common for most personal injury clients.
- Traumatic memories of the accident. Other emotional distress arises from memories of the accident, not necessarily from your pain. For example, you might have survived a horrifying car accident. You wake up every night with nightmares of the accident and suffer from other intrusive thoughts. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common after many accidents. This type of distress is not necessarily a consequence of your bodily injury. However, you can also seek compensation for mental distress like this, provided you suffered some sort of injury.
What Kind of Damages Are Emotional Distress Damages?
Emotional distress damages are a type of non-economic loss. Some lawyers call them “general damages” as opposed to “specific damages,” which are economic in nature.
In a personal injury claim, we can seek compensation for various economic losses:
- Medical care
- Pain medication and rehabilitation
- Property damage
- Lost wages, income, and benefits
Specific damages have a market value that is easy to calculate. If you need your car repaired, you can take it to a body shop for an estimate. Similarly, anyone who receives medical care will receive a bill in the mail or a statement of benefits from their insurance company. Typically, you can request 100% of your economic losses in a settlement.
We also request compensation for general (non-economic) damages, which cover:
- Bodily pain. Our clients struggle with aches and pains, sometimes acute pain. This pain often keeps people up all night.
- Emotional distress. You can seek compensation for anger, depression, anxiety, irritability, PTSD, and other mental health conditions.
- Loss of consortium. This type of claim is brought by a spouse for the impairment to their marriage.
Non-economic damages are harder to quantify in monetary terms (at least compared to economic damages). There is no market value for being free of depression, irritability, or anxiety. Instead, you should hire the right law firm to review the evidence.
How Much to Request in Emotional Distress Damages
At Kaufman & McPherson, we have handled hundreds of personal injury cases. We know how insurance companies analyze these claims. Most of our cases settle, with a client accepting a settlement from the defendant’s insurer.
Based on our experience, we know how much insurers will likely pay for depression, anxiety, or PTSD. Various factors will impact how much we request:
- The strength of your evidence. The more evidence you have of emotional distress, the stronger your argument. For example, a medical diagnosis for PTSD is compelling proof that you deserve compensation.
- The severity of your bodily injuries. Some emotional distress is a direct result of your bodily limitations and pain. It stands to reason that you can request more for emotional distress when you have suffered more disruptive injuries. For example, someone paralyzed from the neck down is suffering continual mental anguish, compared to someone whose temporary shoulder sprain healed in a month.
- Your comparative negligence. A victim’s negligence will result in reduced compensation under West Virginia law. (W. Va. Code 55-17-13c.)
Documenting Emotional Distress
Injured victims need supporting evidence to back up any request for emotional distress damages. You can expect the insurance companies to be skeptical that you are struggling with mental anguish of any type.
There are various ways to document this type of injury.
- Ask friends and family to offer their perspective. They see you daily and know how your injuries have impacted you. Your spouse might testify that you are angry and irritable all the time due to a serious head injury.
- Go to the doctor for treatment. Some accident victims neglect their emotional injuries. You should be upfront with your medical team if you are feeling anxious or depressed.
- Continue with behavioral therapy or mental health counseling. Receiving medical treatment for mental health helps prove the severity of your distress.
- Hang onto proof of prescription medication. Many accident victims treat their depression or anxiety with medication. Hang onto the bottles, which can show your attempt to get well.
- Document your own mental state. Accident victims might keep a daily journal where they record how they feel each day emotionally.
These are the most common suggestions. Our firm can provide more individualized advice in a free consultation.
Contact a West Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer to Discuss Your Case
The most critical step is to hire a lawyer to represent you in any accident case. A lawyer at Kaufman & McPherson knows how to value bodily injuries and mental distress. We seek the maximum compensation for specific and general damages possible. An inexperienced lawyer might minimize your emotional distress, and you can be sure insurance companies will do just that.
Contact us today. We have years of experience helping those in the 26330 zip code with their accident cases. We are happy to offer free, no-obligation consultations to anyone injured in common accidents, including motor vehicle wrecks and premises liability claims.
