Being injured as a result of another's negligence can have lasting impacts on a victim. Aside from healing from physical injuries, mental injuries may require years of treatment to heal as well. When that emotional harm keeps affecting a victim's daily life, Florida treats it as pain and suffering, which is a form of noneconomic damages. Below is what mental anguish and emotional distress actually cover, what evidence supports a claim for them, and how long you have to file.
No matter how you received your injuries, suffering a personal injury is a traumatic experience. No personal injury victim should go through these feelings alone. At Weinstein Legal Team, we fight hard for the victims of personal injury so that they can have a fair chance at receiving the compensation they deserve.
If you've recently suffered an accident that resulted in personal injury and have been feeling negative emotions such as fear, depression, or mood swings, you may be wondering what you can do. Learn more about what mental anguish and emotional distress mean, and how you can seek compensation for them.
The Two Types of Pain and Suffering
In personal injury cases, a victim can seek both economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages are the billed losses: medical costs such as doctor's visits and treatment, lost wages, and property damage. Noneconomic damages have no invoice behind them, which is why they are argued rather than added up.
Noneconomic damages include loss of enjoyment of life and pain and suffering. However, many fail to realize that pain and suffering does not solely refer to bodily pain resulting from injury. In fact, there are two types of pain and suffering: physical and mental.
- Physical pain and suffering is the pain of the victim's bodily injuries, such as broken bones, spinal trauma, or head injuries. This encompasses the pain and discomfort the victim has suffered to date as well as the negative effects that they are likely to suffer in the future as result of the at-fault individual's negligence. For instance, perhaps the victim suffered a spinal injury and will permanently experience back pain and muscle spasms.
- Mental pain and suffering is the emotional harm that comes with being physically injured. It covers any negative emotion the victim carries from enduring the pain and trauma of the accident, including mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, fear, anger, shock, and more.
In a personal injury case, it is typical to pursue compensation for economic damages. However, a victim of personal injury can also seek compensation for non-economic damages, specifically for mental pain and suffering. With this, a victim can prove a variety of negative mental impacts. However, many victims typically pursue compensation for two specific items: mental anguish and emotional distress.
What is Emotional Distress?
Following a personal injury, feelings of emotional distress are very common. Emotional distress encompasses negative feelings, such as:
- Resentment
- Embarrassment
- Disappointment
- Anger
- Sadness
In an emotional distress claim, these feelings have to be more than a bad week or a passing flash of anger. As part of pain and suffering damages, feelings of emotional distress are essentially a constant state that began after the personal injury took place. Emotional distress is also a direct result of another's negligence.
Emotional distress is proved with evidence rather than assertion. That usually means treatment records from a physician or a mental health provider, a timeline tying the symptoms to the injury, and testimony from people who saw the change.
What is Mental Anguish?
Mental anguish refers to a high level of mental distress and pain. These feelings are more significant than anger or sadness. For example, mental anguish includes feelings of:
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Grief
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Depression
- Loss of appetite
- Lack of energy
- Mood swings
- Sleep disturbances or insomnia
- Sexual dysfunction
Mental anguish following a personal injury greatly impacts a victim's daily life. Feelings of depression or PTSD can result in difficulty sleeping, intense mood swings, and a significant loss of appetite that can result in rapid and unhealthy weight loss.
Mental anguish can become so intolerable for the victim that it prevents him or her from leaving the house or returning to work, even after their physical injuries have healed. In this case, the victim can continue to claim damages such as lost wages, despite the healing of their physical injuries. Due to their personal injury, a victim's mental anguish can continue to keep them out of work or from resuming life as usual, which is cause for compensation.
Finding Support for Pain and Suffering
No matter what type of personal injury you've suffered, the last thing you need is to feel isolated. You are not alone in your feelings. If emotional distress or mental anguish has changed how you live, it can be part of your claim. In Florida a negligence claim for an injury that happened after March 24, 2023 must be filed within two years under Florida Statute 95.11(5)(a), and that deadline covers the pain and suffering portion of the claim too.
Weinstein Legal Team is a trusted personal injury law firm with experience dealing with victims who have been physically and emotionally harmed as a result of another's negligence. Contact Weinstein Legal Team or fill out a free case evaluation form today to explore your options.
