Emotional Distress

In the legal realm, emotional distress refers to a person’s mental anguish, suffering, or pain caused by another party’s actions. Those actions can be intentional or unintentional, but they must be negligent or reckless. This form of distress is considered a type of personal injury, and can cost the liable party some legal fees and damages. Recovering compensation for emotional damages, also known as pain and suffering, is often part of personal injury claims. But it can be controversial – courts may impose exacting standards when determining awards in such cases.

Examples of Emotional Distress:

Mental anguish from adjusting to a disability or terrible injury
Depression
Uncontrollable crying spells
Sleeplessness
Anxiety
Fear or Terror
Uncontrollable crying spells
Humiliation

What types of cases can involve emotional damages?

Often times, a personal injury claim can have a substantial emotional component. This is especially true in cases involving serious harm or an illness that substantially impairs one’s quality of life. Examples range from physical trauma to post-traumatic stress disorder and even permanent disability due to the incident. Some common causes of emotional distress include:

How Much is Emotional Distress worth?

If you’ve suffered emotional anguish as a result of someone else’s negligence, you may be able to demand compensation in Texas. But the key is proving that they were responsible for your injury – only then can economic and non-economic damages potentially be recovered. Unfortunately there are limits on recovering if no physical harm has been caused: without an associated bodily injury, it will generally not meet the threshold required to receive recompense from negligent infliction of pain and suffering.

If it is decided that you are entitled to compensation for emotional distress, you may qualify for compensation for the following:

Diminished earning capacity
Medical Bills for treatment of symptoms
Counseling and therapy cost
Out-of-pocket expenses
Loss of time from work because of the symptoms of emotional distress
Diminished quality of life