Can You Sue for Emotional Distress After an Accident in TN?

When you have been involved in a car accident, one of the biggest concerns is whether you have sustained any injuries.

If you have suffered any broken bones, internal injuries, or lacerations, it’s important that you seek immediate medical attention. But it’s also necessary to understand that not all serious injuries are visible.

After an accident, many people suffer from severe emotional and psychological harm. This emotional harm or mental anguish is often referred to as emotional distress.

Under Tennessee state law, when someone has been the victim of an accident, he or she can file a personal injury lawsuit to recover monetary compensation for any damages. This includes damages for things such as medical expenses, lost income, punitive damage (when the defendant’s actions have been egregious), and any emotional distress that has resulted.

What is Emotional Distress?

Emotional distress is a type of emotional injury that can result from a traumatic incident. Tennessee Courts have defined emotional distress as Emotional distress “a highly unpleasant mental reaction (such as anguish, grief, fright, humiliation, or fury) that results from another person’s conduct.”

It can consist of a wide range of symptoms, both physical and non-physical. The traumatic event doesn’t need to result in physical harm for emotional distress to occur. However, there is a correlation between physical injuries and emotional distress.

Those who suffer from injuries that leave them permanently disabled or disfigured also often suffer from emotional distress. It’s not uncommon for those who suffer from severe pain after an accident to also fall into a depression.

Physical symptoms often associated with emotional distress include nausea, vomiting, weight loss (from loss of appetite), and nightmares. While emotional distress can manifest itself in physical symptoms, it can also impact one’s mental health.

Non-physical symptoms of emotional distress often include anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Tennessee law recognizes a number of different types of claims involving emotional distress, such as negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress. These often arise in car accident cases, truck wrecks, bike wrecks, and slip and fall. However, it your personal injury lawyer must be able to recognize these injuries.

Proving that You Are Suffering from Emotional Distress

While you can recover for emotional distress, proving it can be the difficult part. That’s why it’s even more important that someone who has been through a traumatic situation seek treatment for emotional distress as they would physical injuries. Treatment for emotional distress may be sought from a psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health therapist, or counselor.

Seeking professional help not only aids in one’s emotional and psychological recovery, but also provides documentation of the treatment received. Documenting your treatment received can help to bolster your case, as can testimony from your physician or other mental health professional. This testimony can often be used in negotiating a settlement with the other side or in supporting your case during trial.

In addition to the professionals whom you have been treated by, your family and close friends can also help to testify as to the ways in which your accident has changed your emotional wellbeing. The changes are often explained by comparing how you were prior to the accident to how your emotional state is after the accident.

How to Quantify the True Cost of Emotional Distress?

Whereas you can generally calculate the cost of physical injuries, it can be much more difficult to quantify all of the costs associated with emotional distress. As mentioned, it’s best to keep records of the treatment that you have received.

The amount of money that someone can receive for emotional distress is dependent upon the specific facts and different in each case. However, Tennessee generally caps the amount of money that a plaintiff can claim for non-economic injury to $750,000.

However, there are losses that are non-quantifiable but still extremely important.

While emotional distress can severely impact your life, it’s often very difficult to prove. It often takes an experienced, well trained Tennessee personal injury attorney who focuses on personal injury law to know how to prove these losses.

Robert Bates is a local trial lawyer with over a decade of proven results. Located near Meadowview in Kingsport, I fight for folks who have been injured due to slip and fall accidents, medical malpractice, car accidents, truck accidents, and motorcycle accidents.

I focus 100% of my practice on personal injury and social security disability. I have handled hundreds of car wreck cases over the last decade.

I have won cases throughout East Tennessee including Kingsport, Johnson City, Bristol, Erwin, Elizabethton, Unicoi, Mountain City, Rogersville, Blountville, Morristown, Washburn, Pigeon Forge, Knoxville and everywhere in between.

Robert BatesRobert is a Kingsport trial lawyer who handles car, truck and motorcycle wreck cases across the Tri-Cities. Every client gets his cell number.