You can sue for emotional distress in Florida, so long as your circumstances meet the legal conditions for a lawsuit. For example, if you suffered a physical injury or lost a loved one, these are grounds for seeking compensation for emotional distress.
If you have not suffered a physical injury or experienced a wrongful death, you could still potentially seek compensation for emotional distress. However, suing for emotional distress could be extremely difficult without these tangible losses, and it is not a guarantee you will be able to seek emotional distress damages. You can learn for certain if you are eligible to sue by speaking with a Florida personal injury lawyer.
What Qualifies as Emotional Distress?
Emotional distress is difficult to define in specific terms, as everyone has different emotional responses to injuries, wrongful deaths, and other traumatic events. Some common forms of emotional distress include:
- Emotional Distress: General emotional distress covers a wide range of psychological effects that do not fall under the specific categories below. It includes stress, anxiety, fear of future accidents, and other emotional responses to the trauma.
- Pain and Suffering: This includes compensation for physical pain and emotional suffering endured as a result of the accident. Pain and suffering cover a wide range of emotional effects such as anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.
- Mental Anguish: This refers to the emotional pain, distress, and psychological impact resulting from the accident. It includes feelings of fear, humiliation, anger, and shock.
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: If the accident results in an inability to enjoy daily activities, hobbies, or other aspects of life that were previously enjoyed, compensation can be sought for this loss.
- Loss of Consortium: If the accident affects the your relationship with your spouse or family members, such as causing a loss of companionship, affection, or sexual relations, damages may be awarded for this loss.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): If you develop PTSD as a result of the accident, you may be entitled to compensation for the psychological effects, therapy, and any related medical treatment.
- Inconvenience: Compensation can be sought for the inconvenience caused by the accident, such as having to deal with medical appointments, legal proceedings, and changes to daily routines.
Attorneys often rely on mental health professionals to evaluate their clients’ emotional distress and other forms of pain and suffering. Such a professional may provide documentation that is highly beneficial to your lawsuit.
Your own account of emotional distress may also be valuable to your case. After all, such a condition is highly personal, and you may be best able to describe the toll your emotional distress has taken.
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Events that Can Lead You to Sue for Emotional Distress
Suing for emotional distress often, but not always, comes in the context of a larger lawsuit. While you could sue solely based on your emotional distress, plaintiffs often have a handful of damages resulting from:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Boating accidents
- Injuries resulting from dangerous consumer products
- Premises liability incidents, including trip or slip and fall accidents
This is just a limited sampling of the events that can cause emotional distress and warrant a lawsuit. Speak with our team about your circumstances, and we will explain whether you are eligible to sue for emotional distress, and possibly other damages.
Can I Sue for Emotional Distress If I Didn’t Suffer a Physical Injury?
You may be able to sue for emotional distress if you did not suffer a physical injury along with the distress. Florida law follows the impact rule, which says that there must generally be a physical impact on the victim in order for them to obtain compensation for emotional distress.
However, there can be exceptions to the impact rule. This legal practice is quite nuanced and depends on the effect the incident had on you, and the severity of the harm. Our lawyers are equipped to review your case and argue if you are entitled to emotional distress damages without physical harm.
Should I Hire a Lawyer to Seek Compensation for Emotional Distress?
Many of those with emotional distress are well-served in hiring a lawyer. Some of the most common reasons for hiring personal injury lawyers are:
- The limits imposed by your emotional distress: Those suffering from emotional distress usually have a low tolerance for stress. You may also have physical injuries that require your attention. Handling your own case could be detrimental to your mental and physical health.
- The experience an attorney brings to your case: Our lawyers are confident leading your case because we have done it before. We understand the toll emotional distress takes, and we know how to value the monetary value of such harm.
- The financial risk our firm will take for you: Our attorneys require no upfront compensation from you. We will cover case-related expenses, and we will only receive a fee if we secure compensation for you.
- Your lack of familiarity with lawsuits: Suing is a complicated pursuit, and it is a process most Floridians are not familiar with. You don’t have to learn about lawsuits or navigate Florida’s legal system. Simply hire our firm to handle yours.
You deserve justice for emotional distress and any other damages you have suffered. Our firm will work hard to ensure justice is done.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Will Pursue Fair Compensation for Your Emotional Distress
Our attorneys take full control of and responsibility for our clients’ cases. We want you to be able to heal, and we will take all case-related responsibilities off your shoulders by:
- Obtaining all evidence that proves who caused your emotional distress
- Documenting your emotional distress, likely with help from mental health professionals
- Calculating the cost of your case
- Negotiating tirelessly for your settlement
- Representing you in court, if we need to
When we accept a case, we see it through. Our team is never satisfied unless the client receives all the compensation they deserve.
Call Our Team to Discuss Your Emotional Distress Losses After an Accident
Do not wait to speak with our team, as we may face a strict deadline for filing your case. Bogin, Munns & Munns has more than 40 years’ helping clients sue for emotional distress in Florida, so let us use our experience to your benefit.
Call Bogin, Munns & Munns today for your free consultation about hiring a Florida personal injury attorney.
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