When someone is in a car accident, a slip and fall, or another circumstance that causes injury or illness, they may experience emotional distress. This distress can take many forms but is always serious. Emotional distress is just as significant as lost income or medical bills but can be harder for victims to accurately calculate these losses.
A Michigan personal injury lawyer can draw on experts and other professionals to help calculate the full extent of these losses, however intangible. While money cannot truly make up for the mental and emotional toll your accident is taking on you, you deserve something for your suffering.
Emotional Distress Encompasses Different Conditions and Reactions
There is no single definition of emotional distress. In the context of a lawsuit, emotional distress could refer to:
- Emotions: Specific emotions, such as anger, sadness, and despair, generally qualify as emotional distress. While nobody lives an emotionally perfect life, emotional distress typically arises from a specific instance caused by negligence—like a motor vehicle accident.
- Diagnosable conditions: Conditions for which you receive a diagnosis—depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) being examples—may qualify as emotional distress.
- Other hardships and difficulties: Someone who suffers injuries in a motor vehicle accident may have recurring thoughts or memories that prevent them from sleeping well. A person with an illness caused by toxic exposure may lose quality of life, and this may lead to thoughts of suicide. Such hardships may qualify as emotional distress.
- Injuries to personal relationships: Sometimes, your injuries and losses can greatly harm your relationship with your significant other, your children, your parents, and other people. You may not be able to provide the emotional support and affection you once did, and this can harm your mental well-being, as well as the mental health of those closest to you.
Fortunately, we have a term, “pain and suffering,” that captures all feelings and conditions that could qualify as emotional distress. So, even if a symptom does not technically qualify as emotional distress, it may entitle you to compensation.
Various Circumstances Can Cause Emotional Distress
As our law firm has served clients for more than 30 years, we’ve seen many circumstances produce emotional distress. These circumstances include:
- Car accidents, truck accidents, and motorcycle accidents
- Bicycle and pedestrian accidents
- Trip or slip and falls and other accidents resulting from dangerous premises
- Workplace accidents, including construction accidents and work-related motor vehicle collisions
- The wrongful death of a loved one
These are not the only circumstances that lead to emotional distress. They are, however, some of the practice areas we handle for our clients. If you’ve suffered an injury, developed an illness, or lost a loved one, we may be able to get justice for you.
You Can Seek Compensation for Emotional Distress and Related Damages
Those suffering emotional distress do not always know their options. Sometimes, you have the option of getting compensation for your distress. Having an attorney from our firm lead your lawsuit is one possible path to that compensation.
Getting money for your emotional distress may help by:
- Enacting justice for the harm you’ve suffered: If you have ever experienced emotional distress, you wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Therefore, if someone acted in any way that caused your emotional distress, they should be accountable for the harm they’ve caused you.
- Helping with medical treatment expenses: You may need medical intervention for symptoms related to your emotional distress. Liable parties may cover the expense of such evaluation and treatment.
- Helping with mental health treatment costs: If you take medication, undergo an evaluation, go to therapy, or receive any other treatment for your emotional distress, liable parties may cover the cost of care. This can provide further financial relief.
- Relieving the stress of your professional damages: Those who experience anxiety, depression, or other types of emotional distress may be unable to work. This typically prevents them from earning a living and causes immense financial stress. By getting compensation, you may find much-needed relief from the pressure of lost income.
Anyone can seek compensation for emotional distress. However, not anyone can secure that compensation. Consider hiring our attorneys from our firm to fight for the money you deserve.
Challenges When Suing for Emotional Distress in Michigan
Economic damages are harder to challenge, as there is a clear paper trail of expenses and losses. Non-economic losses are more subjective, and you may face many challenges. Some of these possible challenges are listed below:
- When seeking emotional distress and other non-economic losses, the negligent party may try to downplay the severity of your distress. They may have witnesses or experts whose testimonies may contradict your claims of emotional and mental distress, saying you are not as anguished as you claim. Our lawyers will use our own resources to counter these claims, making sure we clearly outline the full extent of your emotional losses.
- The other party may try to blame you for your own losses. Michigan follows a modified comparative negligence doctrine that can change how much compensation you may be eligible to pursue. The negligent party may say you are more than 50 percent liable for the accident, and that can bar you from covering any non-economic losses like pain and suffering. We will defend you against such tactics and fight for full and fair damages.
- One of the most complex aspects of an injury case is establishing negligence and tying it to your losses and injuries. Our lawyers must be able to prove that the other person’s actions were negligent and thus led to your losses. The opposition may try to claim your emotional distress is unrelated to the accident, but we will be there with solid evidence to dispute these claims.
Our team is ready to face whatever arguments the other party throws our way, so do not hesitate to reach out.
An Attorney Can Fight for the Emotional Distress Losses You Deserve
Personal injury lawyers seek fair compensation for clients experiencing emotional distress. Nearly every client we represent has some degree of emotional distress—even if they do not recognize that distress before speaking with our team.
You can hire our firm to seek the money you deserve. Then, simply continue to rest and recover as we fight for your financial recovery. Our services include:
- Obtaining mental health records documenting your various forms of emotional distress
- Hiring experts to testify further about your emotional distress
- Documenting any other damages you’ve suffered because of the event that caused you emotional distress
- Assigning a monetary value to your emotional distress and other damages
- Securing evidence of liability for the event(s) that caused your emotional distress
- Filing your lawsuit and all related paperwork
- Leading communications throughout your case
- Negotiating a settlement
- Taking your case to trial when necessary
When you work with our team, you’ll have legal advocates who take on every necessary task to ensure you can avoid the stressors of a personal injury case.
We May Face a Deadline for Seeking Money for Your Emotional Distress
In order to seek emotional distress damages in a lawsuit, you must make sure to file your case by the state statute of limitations. Per Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 600.5805, you have three years to file your lawsuit.
This means that a court may not accept your case to pursue damages if you file after this deadline, and you can lose any leverage you had against the other party. Many personal injury cases do not even go through the entire trial process. We may be able to settle with the insurers early on, but it’s best to be prepared for this path.
In general, it’s best to act quickly after an accident or injury. The clock starts running on the day of the injury or the date of death.
Emotional Distress Is Just One of Many Damages in a Lawsuit
In the personal injury space, we don’t typically refer to “emotional distress lawsuits.” Instead, our firm handles lawsuits that involve emotional distress. Our clients often have damages in addition to their emotional distress, which may include:
- Medical expenses, like emergency room and hospital bills, surgical bills, medication and equipment costs, and physical therapy
- Various forms of pain and suffering and other forms of emotional and mental distress
- Lost income if you cannot work in the weeks, months, or years following your injury
- Decreased earning power, if you cannot return to work at all or work in the same capacity you used to
- Expenses for treating their psychological and emotional trauma
Each case is different, so every client’s damages are unique. As our firm evaluates your emotional distress and related conditions, we’ll evaluate (and value) every other damage you’ve suffered.
Call Christensen Law Today for a Free Consultation About Your Emotional Distress Lawsuit
The Christensen Law team has been fighting for clients with emotional distress and other damages since 1991. When you hire Christensen Law, you get a legal team that, quite simply, is not like other firms. We’re transparent, compassionate, and relentless in our pursuit of compensation.
While we’ve highlighted things to know about emotional distress lawsuits, we can review the specifics regarding your case when we learn more about your situation. Call Christensen Law today for your free consultation.
