When discussing personal injury cases, the conversation often focuses on the injury itself. While this is a key part of demonstrating harm incurred and establishing liability, it’s also only one part of the damages you can be compensated for. Learn the examples of emotional distress damages in personal injury cases, how they can influence the outcome of your lawsuit or insurance claim, and how to gather the evidence needed to prove emotional distress and receive the compensation you deserve.
What Are Emotional Distress Damages?
Emotional distress damages are a form of non-economic damages in personal injury cases. They financially compensate victims who have experienced trauma, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life due to another party’s wrongful or negligent actions. Examples of emotional distress damages include (but aren’t limited to):
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Severe anxiety
- Depression
- Mental suffering and anguish
- Grief
- Fright and shock
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Insomnia
- Humiliation
When Can You Recover Emotional Distress Damages in California?
In order to make a successful emotional distress personal injury claim in California, you must prove that you have suffered severe mental anguish as a result of the incident that you’re making the claim about. Emotional distress is often claimed in addition to physical injury claims, but there are a few other scenarios in which it’s possible to make this claim. One is negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED), which covers two scenarios:
- As a victim: The defendant’s negligence breached their duty of care to you and resulted in serious emotional distress that an ordinary, reasonable person would be unable to cope with.
- As a bystander: You witnessed a close family member suffer a severe injury or death, causing deep, diagnosable trauma.
The other avenue to receiving mental anguish damages in California is intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), which allows you to sue a defendant who acted intentionally or recklessly, causing you severe emotional harm due to outrageous conduct. This avenue is often pursued in cases of sexual assault, severe harassment, and egregious retaliation.
Emotional Distress vs. Pain and Suffering
In California, pain and suffering damages are an umbrella term that covers a variety of non-economic damages, including emotional distress. Pain and suffering can refer to physical pain, mental suffering, and emotional distress, depending on the nature of your case. A Los Angeles personal injury lawyer will learn about your situation and determine which types of non-economic damages you may be entitled to.
How Do You Prove Emotional Distress?
Unlike physical injury and economic damages, emotional distress often has less inherent evidence to back up your claims. You can sue for emotional distress in California (even without physical injury) if you have concrete evidence showing that the defendant’s actions led to severe mental anguish. Documentation that can strengthen your case may include:
- Professional diagnoses: Medical and psychological evaluations for conditions like PTSD, major depressive disorder, or generalized anxiety.
- Treatment records: Receipts and/or notes from therapy appointments, mental health treatment plans, and records of any prescribed medications.
- Personal documentation: A self-kept record of your situation, including logs of symptoms (e.g., panic attacks, sleep disruptions, etc.), as well as reflections on how trauma or mental anguish is affecting your daily life.
- Testimony: Statements from family, friends, or colleagues who can attest to changes in your behavior and quality of life.
- Impact on daily life: Evidence showing the impact of the mental anguish on your life, such as declining productivity, school attendance, reduced earnings, or missed events.
Common Psychological Injuries After an Accident
Depending on the event that led to your suffering emotional distress, you may have incurred psychological injuries after an accident. If you’re diagnosed with a psychological injury by a professional, it can greatly strengthen your claim. Common psychological injuries include:
- PTSD
- Phobias related to the incident (e.g., fear of driving after a car accident)
- Generalized anxiety
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Night terrors
- Cognitive impairments (e.g., loss of focus, brain fog, memory loss)
- Panic attacks
How Insurance Companies Challenge Emotional Distress Claims
Your insurance company may try to dispute, disprove, and discredit your claims of emotional distress. They do this in a number of ways, ranging from looking for gaps in your treatment, checking your social media for proof that you’re not isolated or depressed, and even hiring private investigators to collect evidence about your lifestyle that discredits your claims. They may also challenge the psychological injuries you sustained, contending that your condition is not prolonged, severe, or preventing you from engaging with daily life.
How Emotional Distress Damages Are Valued
In California, emotional distress damages have no formula or hard rules for valuation. Instead, damage amounts are determined and awarded subjectively by juries based on common sense. Your personal injury lawyer will determine a baseline settlement number before trial, typically by multiplying all economic damages incurred (e.g., the costs of therapy and other treatment) by a factor between 1.5 and five. Alternatively, they may use the per diem method, which assigns a dollar amount for every day of mental suffering endured since the incident.
Why Documentation Is Critical
Psychological injuries and damages are invisible, so it’s vital to maintain a consistent, well-organized paper trail when pursuing a claim. Documentation from healthcare providers, family, employers, and the victim creates a strong case and helps the claimant receive the emotional distress compensation they deserve.
How a Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help
The Los Angeles personal injury lawyers at The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani can help you build a strong case when pursuing emotional distress damages. We’ll help you understand the documentation requirements, amass the evidence needed to persuade a jury, and counter the methods your insurance company may use to discredit you and block your compensation.
Finding an Advocate After a Serious Accident
If you’ve been the victim of negligence, recklessness, or intentional infliction of emotional damage, it’s important to consult with a lawyer to discuss your situation and build a strong case. At the Law Offices of Jacob Emrani, we take on countless cases of this nature each year, standing up for our clients to help them get the compensation they deserve. Contact us today for more information or to schedule your emotional distress consultation.