Getting Compensation When You Have No Physical But Only Mental Or Emotional Injuries

We all know that when we are in an accident and we suffer physical injury, that there can be mental trauma that goes with that injury as well. So, for example, a broken shoulder or torn ligament in your knee, can lead to depression. An accident that causes trauma to the brain itself, can of course cause mental disability.

But what about an accident that causes no physical injury or physical trauma, but only causes emotional or mental trauma? In other words, something that is so devastating to know about, or watch, or live through, that it ends up causing you severe emotional distress?

Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress

These are called claims for negligent infliction of emotional trauma or damages. They are often limited, and tougher to get than physical injuries, because of the perception that in the absence of physical injury to accompany emotional trauma, mental or emotional-only injuries can be easily faked.

A victim in Rhode Island can recover for emotional damages, even in the absence of physical injury. However, the mental trauma or damage must have a physical manifestation. So, in other words, someone who, as a result of anxiety caused by an accident, is unable to sleep, or who avoids certain situations, or who has an erratic temper, would have physical manifestations of the emotional trauma or damages.

Bystander Damages

But it’s not just the victim that can recover damages. Even someone who witnesses an accident can obtain damages for mental trauma, so long as the person witnessing was present at the scene of the accident, and had a close personal relationship with the victim. The emotional damages must cause some physical symptoms.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Not only can a victim recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress, but victims in Rhode Island can also recover for intentional infliction of emotional distress. These claims are rare, but they do happen.

To get emotional damages, the victim must show that the intentional act was so beyond the boundaries of moral decency, that the Defendant’s conduct would shock the conscience of a normal person, or that the Defendant’s behavior is beyond the boundaries of human decency.

Examples of Emotional Damage Cases

Common scenarios where courts have found behavior significant enough to warrant awards of emotional distress, include desecration of gravesites or dead bodies, or in cases where people are misdiagnosed with cancer or HIV. Or, where people are unknowingly exposed to HIV or other diseases.

Often, businesses will have such careless and lax safety standards, that courts will find that they shock the conscious, and that they should not be allowed in a civilized society, giving rise to emotional-only damages, whether negligent or intentional.

Have you suffered emotional or mental injury after or because of an accident? Contact our Rhode Island personal injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 today.

Sources:

govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-rid-1_05-cv-00107/pdf/USCOURTS-rid-1_05-cv-00107-0.pdf

law.justia.com/cases/rhode-island/supreme-court/1988/547-a-2d-894.html

casetext.com/case/ward-v-lotuff