The damage from a car accident extends to more than just physical injuries and monetary losses. Grappling with the aftermath of a serious accident can also cause intense emotional distress and suffering. This psychological scarring is no less legitimate than physical wounds and can affect virtually every aspect of your professional and social life.
In Florida, car accident victims can file a personal injury lawsuit to recover compensation for their explicit economic losses. Florida also allows victims to recover compensation for their intangible emotional suffering. If you have suffered sustained emotional distress after a car accident, an experienced car crash attorney can help you understand your options for recovering financial compensation.
What Counts as Emotional Distress After a Car Accident?
Emotional distress refers to the subjective mental suffering one can experience after a traumatic or painful event, like a car accident. The term is somewhat broad and could include a number of psychological disturbances, such as:
- Anxiety and fear
- Depression
- Difficulty sleeping
- Mood swings
- PTSD
- Loss of life enjoyment
- Social isolation and lack of companionship
For instance, a person who sustains serious injuries after a car accident might develop an intense fear and anxiety about traveling by car. They may also develop depression because their injuries prevent them from engaging in activities they once enjoyed. Both of these psychological disturbances could count as emotional distress for the purposes of a personal injury lawsuit. According to some studies, as many as 45 percent of people involved in car accidents develop clinical symptoms of PTSD and intense emotional distress.
How to Prove Emotional Distress in a Lawsuit
Proving emotional harm in a lawsuit is challenging due to its subjective and intangible nature. Psychological scars may not have physical symptoms, and losses like medical bills or lost work income have a determinate monetary value that is straightforward to prove.
In order to prove emotional distress, you must show that the anguish was a result of the car accident and that the emotional distress has detrimentally affected your life. Evidence that could demonstrate the degree of your distress includes:
- Counseling notes or therapy statements
- Personal journal entries about your pain, limitations, and feelings
- Statements from family, friends, and other individuals close to you
- Expert testimony from medical and psychiatric professionals
An experienced attorney can present this evidence in a convincing narrative to causally link your emotional distress to the accident events.
Florida’s Impact Rule and Emotional Distress Claims After a Car Accident
Florida’s “impact rule” generally requires victims to suffer an actual physical injury to sue for emotional distress. This rule is an old precedent in Florida tort law and restricts compensation for emotional harm only to distress that is a direct result of physical trauma and injury. The rule typically means you cannot sue solely for emotional distress after a car accident.
However, car accidents are exceptionally violent and traumatic events, and Florida’s courts have created numerous exceptions to the impact rule. For example, you may be able to recover damages for emotional distress if you were sufficiently close to the zone of danger during a car wreck and reasonably expected to suffer great harm.
You may also be able to bring a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress if you witnessed the traumatic death of a loved one in a car accident. An experienced personal injury attorney can analyze your case and assess options for recovering emotional distress damages after a car accident.
What Role Do Mental Health Professionals Play in Emotional Distress Claims?
Given their role in assessing the depth of emotional trauma, mental health professionals such as counselors, psychiatrists, and therapists play a crucial role in emotional distress claims. Mental health professionals are a source of information regarding your mental state and provide insight into how the distress impacts other facets of your life. Patient documentation and notes from therapists and psychiatrists can serve as objective evidence of your suffering, and attorneys can rely on mental health professionals as expert witnesses during trials.
If you plan to file a claim for emotional distress after a car accident, it is important that you establish a relationship with a mental health professional. Working with a professional not only safeguards your mental well-being but also produces the necessary documentation you will need to prove your claim. Delays in seeking mental health treatment could ultimately weaken your claim.
How Emotional Distress Impacts Settlement Value
Florida doesn’t use a standardized method to calculate the value of emotional distress settlements. Instead, the value is decided on a case-by-case basis. The duration of the distress and the severity of its impact are two major factors determining any awarded amount. In many cases, compensation for emotional distress will be in addition to compensation for injury-related losses, like medical bills and lost work income. Florida does not have statutory limits on the amount of compensation you can recover for noneconomic losses like emotional distress, but the amount is typically based on the value of your economic losses.
You may also recover compensation for any economic losses you have suffered due to the emotional distress, such as therapy/counseling costs or medical treatment related to psychologically-induced physical injuries. In extreme cases where the offender acted especially recklessly or intentionally inflicted emotional suffering, you might also receive punitive damages. This type of monetary award is not meant to remunerate you, but to punish the offender and deter future bad behavior.
Contact Jurewitz Law Group Injury & Accident Lawyers Today to Discuss Your Emotional Distress Claim
Emotional distress after a car accident might be subjective, but the losses associated with it are no less real than those from physical injuries. If you have suffered intense emotional distress after a car accident, an attorney can provide legal guidance and resources to help you pursue financial compensation. If you have any more questions about emotional injury lawsuits or mental anguish compensation after a car accident, contact Jurewitz Law Group Injury & Accident Lawyers today or call (619) 233-5020 to speak to a Florida personal injury attorney.
