Can you sue for emotional distress after a crash? Car accidents very often bring a high amount of trouble. Your car gets totalled and you probably have to pay for the repairs. You get injured, so you probably need to take time off. One simple car crash turned your life upside down, and now you need to receive your compensation for damage and personal injury.

That said, the damage caused by car accidents is not only physical. They can be emotional as well. Research shows that an average of 39.2% of car crash survivors suffer from PTSD that emotionally consumes them. In these moments, suing can be your only way to obtain justice.

What Is Emotional Distress

In a legal context, emotional distress is a highly debilitating or unpleasant emotional response, resulting from the actions of a different party. Generally speaking, the law allows people to seek financial compensation if the other person’s actions cause them emotional distress.

In the case of a car accident, emotional distress can include a fear of getting behind the wheel or even in the backseat of a car. This can be very inconvenient for people who use transportation for their daily jobs or have to travel from one point to another.

Depression and panic attacks that negatively affect your daily life can also be dubbed emotional distress. For example, those who are feeling highly anxious or depressed after an accident may not be able to conduct their job properly. This may prevent them from receiving income and making a living.

How Can You Prove Emotional Distress?

Proving emotional distress is not as easy as proving an injury. You will need to show that you have suffered some sort of psychological or physical effect as a result of the distress.

For example, you may be suffering from stomach problems, headaches, fatigue, libido loss, or other distress-caused physical symptoms. Similarly, you may be feeling psychological symptoms such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

To prove this, you will first need a report from the physician or psychologist treating you for this degree. For the report to be taken into account, the examiner needs to have a reasonable degree in the medical field.

Compensation for emotional distress is also only given when the impact on your life is significant. For instance, if you only had a couple of days of feeling fatigued while still being able to work, then your accident-driven claim may not be viable.

However, if your performance is negatively affected for months, even years, then you may have grounds for emotional distress compensation.

How to Sue for Emotional Distress

Suing someone for emotional distress is a very straightforward process, so long as you have definite proof. Here is what you will need to do:

Contact Your Attorney

So, you’ve been into an accident that wasn’t even your fault, and now you are constantly on edge. The anxiety and/or depression significantly affected the way you work, and now you feel like nothing is ever going back to normal. These are problems you may not have had before the crash.

The first thing that you should do after this sort of accident is to contact your attorney. They will be able to navigate you through the process with ease. In Maryland, it is required by law to get an attorney to handle a lawsuit, especially if you are injured by it.

Personal injury attorneys will know exactly what type of paperwork is required for your case. Local jurisdictions may have different legal requirements, so to prevent any potential delays, you will need the help of someone who’s been through this before.

Get a Medical Diagnosis

To get compensation for emotional distress, you will need to prove that you suffered from it. Think about it this way: when you get into an accident, you will need a doctor’s report to showcase the extent of your injuries. This way, the insurance company cannot back out of the payment.

The same thing goes for emotional distress. The only difference is that instead of working with a doctor who deals with physical injuries, you will go to one who has a degree in psychiatry. They can give you the treatment that you need and gauge the emotional harm that the accident inflicted on you.

A car accident can affect many parts of a person’s life. A psychiatrist can get to the root of the problem and the impact that the symptoms have on your lifestyle. Work closely with your psychiatrist so that they can get clear notes on your mental condition after the accident.

Don’t Talk to Insurance Companies Yourself

You may think that the insurance company needs to pay for everything so long as you have coverage, but that’s not really the case. In fact, the insurance company will try their best not to give you that money. Unless they have irrefutable proof, they may deny an otherwise legitimate claim.

Talking to the insurance company yourself may spin the situation against you. They will look for any excuse not to give you what you are owed.

Even if they do, they may try to spin things in their favour and give you a much smaller amount of money. As a result, you should not try to talk alone with them – not unless you have the appropriate experience to handle them.

Instead of going alone, have an experienced attorney come with you. Not only can they help you understand the compensation you are entitled to, but they also know what makes insurance companies tick. This way, you have a better chance of receiving a better offer.

Sue for Emotional Distress Conclusion

Suing for emotional damage is something you can definitely do after an accident. Emotional distress can affect your life just as much as a physical injury.

Seeking compensation is a very reasonable approach. You just need to have definite proof that you suffered from it. Without that proof, there is a risk that your claim will not be accepted.

If you want to sue for emotional distress, speak to a law firm.

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Can I Sue for Emotional Distress After a Car Accident?