When you suffer a severe injury during an accident, the damage goes far beyond the physical. You may endure lasting fear, anxiety, and depression. In certain circumstances, you can sue for this mental anguish.
However, before filing a claim for mental suffering, you need to understand the legal threshold.
What is Considered Emotional Distress
The law recognizes two types of emotional distress claims.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)
Intentional emotional harm is difficult to prove. The other party’s conduct needs to be so extreme that there is no decent excuse for it. You and your attorney must prove that they acted intentionally or recklessly to cause severe distress.
An Example of Intentional Emotional Distress
A supervisor verbally harasses you over an extended period, despite you reporting the behavior.
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED)
This claim is often linked to a physical injury triggered by negligence. In many states, including Alabama, the distress must manifest in physical side effects, like severe panic attacks or insomnia.
An Example of Negligent Emotional Distress
After losing a limb in a drunk driving accident, you experience anxiety, depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
How to Prove Emotional Distress
Unlike a broken bone, emotional pain doesn’t appear on an X-ray. The burden of proof falls on you and your legal team. To prove that you have a viable claim, you need objective evidence.
At Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys, we’ve utilized the following types of evidence to build emotional distress claims.
Medical and Psychological Evidence
Licensed professionals provide the most critical evidence for an emotional distress lawsuit. You need to prove that your distress is severe enough for professional intervention. For example, medical records could prove that your emotional state manifested physical symptoms.
Impact on Daily Life
You must also prove that emotional distress severely impacted your ability to function normally. Lost wages, witness testimonies, and personal accounts could help your claim.
How to File a Lawsuit for Emotional Distress
Survivors typically seek emotional distress as damages within a larger personal injury lawsuit. Examples include a car accident or medical malpractice. Occasionally, IIED can be a standalone claim.
These are the steps for filing an emotional distress lawsuit.
1. Connect the Distress
Your attorney must link the defendant’s wrongful act, like drunk driving, to your emotional suffering.
2. Quantify the Damages
While filing a lawsuit, you can pursue compensation for both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include medical bills or lost wages. In comparison, non-economic is harder to calculate. It typically includes suffering and decreased quality of life.
3. Meet Legal Burden of Proof
The burden of proof is different for IIED and NIED claims. For IIED claims, your attorney must prove that the defendant’s actions were outrageous. NIED claims must prove that that the emotional distress meets the threshold of severity.
What to Do Next
These claims are incredibly challenging to pursue without experienced legal counsel. They have a high threshold of proof. Don’t wait if you believe you have suffered severe emotional distress. Contact our law firm today.
