Emotional Damages

After an accident, it’s common to focus on your physical injuries. However, once your body heals, you may find that you’re still suffering from emotional injuries that can have a tremendous impact on how you live your life. At the Olsinski Law Firm, PLLC, our dedicated personal injury lawyers have decades of experience helping accident victims recover fair compensation for what they’ve been through.

Emotional damages, often referred to as pain and suffering or mental anguish, encompass the psychological effects a victim endures due to an accident or injury. These can manifest as anxiety, depression, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The emotional toll that often follows in the wake of an accident can profoundly impact your daily routines, relationships, work-life, and overall quality of life. Thus, any accident settlement or jury verdict award should reflect these damages.

For instance, a car accident victim might develop a phobia of driving or riding in vehicles. A slip and fall in a public place might lead to embarrassment and social withdrawal. These repercussions go beyond mere physical injuries, affecting your day-to-day life in an entirely different way than physical injuries.

To successfully claim emotional damages in a Charlotte personal injury case, you must establish each of the following:

Causation: The emotional distress you are experiencing must have been directly caused by the accident. At the Olsinski Law Firm, PLLS, we will often recommend our clients undergo an independent medical or psychological evaluation to establish a claim for emotional damages.

Severity: Not all emotional traumas qualify for compensation. The distress must be significant and not a mere fleeting emotion. A qualified therapist or psychologist's assessment can be pivotal in proving that the emotional distress you are experiencing is severe enough that it requires you to be compensated for the impact it had—and continues to have—on your life.

Duration: Temporary emotional distress might not warrant compensation. If, however, the distress is long-lasting or permanent, it strengthens the claim. Again, an independent medical or psychological evaluation may help the judge or jury understand the extent of your emotional damages and how long they will impact your life.

Importantly, emotional damages can stem from all types of injuries, not just serious accidents. However, proving that you are entitled to compensation for emotional damages can be challenging, which is why it is a good idea to work with an experienced personal injury lawyer.

Technically, there is no requirement that you enlist the help of an attorney when claiming emotional damages. However, for accident victims looking to maximize their compensation award, an attorney’s help is vital. This is because insurance companies like to classify these damages as a “windfall” to accident victims when, in reality, emotional damages are intended to compensate victims for the emotional and psychological effects the accident had on their lives. In many cases, emotional damages make up a significant portion of a victim’s total recovery, and, in some cases, they exceed a victim’s economic damages.

At the Olsinski Law Firm, PLLC, we have helped countless individuals obtain robust emotional damages awards. We command an in-depth understanding of the various ways that emotional damages manifest themselves and rely on a well-respected network of expert witnesses to help substantiate our clients’ claims. We are also prepared to aggressively litigate our clients' claims for emotional damages in front of both judges and juries.

If you recently suffered a serious injury as a result of a preventable accident, reach out to the Olsinski Law Firm, PLLC, to learn more about your options. At the Olsinski Law Firm, PLLC, we’ve assembled a dedicated team of personal injury attorneys who not only care deeply about our clients’ cases but also about our clients as people. We understand that an accident can impact your life in many ways and that the aftermath is different for everyone, which is why we start every new relationship off by listening intently to what you tell us is most important to you and your family. To learn more, and to schedule a free consultation with a Kannapolis personal injury lawyer, give us a call at 704-405-2580. You can also reach our Cabarrus County injury attorneys at 704-918-4747. We represent clients in Kannapolis and Concord, as well as in Mecklenburg, Gaston, Iredell, Rowan, and Union Counties.