Two Types of Emotional Distress due to Personal Injury

One of the more difficult recoverable damages to assert for is payments for emotional distress. Under the tort law, Los Angeles accident victims may be entitled to receive compensations for emotional distress; however, easy it may seem, in reality, it is a hard nut to crack. As compared to economic damages, such as medical and medication bills, lost wages, and damage to property, payments for emotional suffering is relatively more difficult to obtain.

What is “Emotional Distress”?

Accident victims should be aware of the information and details concerning emotional distress in order to sufficiently claim for damages. If you are a victim of a negligent action of another individual that causes you emotional affliction, you may be able to assert for damages. Generally, the amount of payments for emotional distress is limited by the amount of damage you have sustained as well as the severity of distress you have suffered from.

Typically, there are two forms of emotional distress, and these are:

1. Emotional distress due to negligence

This type of emotional affliction is generally caused by physical injury or injury symptoms due to the negligent action of the liable person involved. In this kind of emotional distress, the victim should be able to prove that the negligent actions of the liable party resulted in the emotional grief. Having a Los Angeles personal injury attorney is a necessity when proving this kind of emotional setback.

2. Emotional distress due to intentional infliction

Typically, this type of emotional distress is a result of intentional or reckless action of the liable person. The victim should be able to prove that there is correlation between the wrongdoer’s action and the emotional grief. Additionally, the distress should be severe or extreme. Also, seeking legal assistance from a personal injury lawyer is a must in order to prove the claim.

Emotional Distress and Non-Economic Damages

In the legal sense, emotional distress is part of the recoverable payments with respect to non-economic damages.

In its basic legal definition, non-economic damages include payments that are non-monetary or cannot be easily quantified. Furthermore, this type of personal injury damages does not have a fixed amount of monetary value. Other forms of non-economic damages include loss of consortium, psychological difficulties, scars and mutilation, loss of care, and loss of companionship. Because the amount of non-economic damages is difficult to prove, it would be best to get legal services of an expert Los Angeles personal injury attorney