Can Your Compensation Cover Mental Trauma?

If you’ve been injured and you’re pursuing a personal injury lawsuit, you may think that your physical injuries are the only issues for which you can be compensated. However, a severe crash can cause problems far beyond physical injuries. Mental trauma from such an event can be extreme and can potentially entitle you to damages.

• Physical injuries suffered in an accident are apparent, but they will heal with time and treatment. On the other hand, the mental anguish can last far longer and negatively affect your everyday activities. It’s essential to know your legal options so that you can move forward and pursue the compensation to which you’re entitled.
• Are you entitled to compensation for pain and suffering? Sometimes, in a motor vehicle accident case, the court will consider non-economic damage as part of the compensation. Non-economic factors can also factor in the settlement offer received from the insurance company. By non-economic, we mean that these damages aren’t connected to any monetary loss experienced in the wreck but to pain and suffering. What are pain and suffering? It includes the mental anguish caused by the auto accident.

In some cases, the person who was in the accident suffers from post-traumatic stress in the aftermath. This can result in a loss of enjoyment in life. If that’s the case, it can be a factor in the amount of damages awarded because the person’s entire life is impacted.

• How is the amount of compensation determined? This number can be complicated to determine. That’s because, while the damages suffered by the vehicle and the expenses from medical treatment can be quantified, the mental trauma can be challenging to gauge. It’s highly personal, as the individual’s losses must be ascertained to calculate the amount of compensation that can be recovered. The burden is on the person and his or her attorney to demonstrate that the mental trauma has been impactful, that activities enjoyed before the crash are no longer enjoyable, and that PTSD is causing a disruption to the person’s life. The more mental trauma can be proved, the more likely non-economic damages become.

Because the need for compensation must be proved, having a competent, capable, experienced attorney on your team makes a big difference. Since 1990, the Law Firm of Kevin Paul Childers has been committed to providing crucial legal guidance to people who have suffered damages in an automobile accident. We pay close attention to each case, giving one-on-one treatment to each of our clients because every case is unique. Our lawyers are among the best in Virginia, and we’ll put our more than 100 years of collective experience to work for you. We work hard to achieve the best possible results for every client we represent, so contact us for a free case analysis or call (703) 636-2182 today.