Texas Personal Injury Law Allows You To Recover Compensation For Mental Anguish.
After a serious accident, victims aren't just physically injured---they experience mental and emotional damage, too. They now have to live with the new reality that involves doctor visits, physical pain, financial losses, and far too often, the death of a loved one in the same accident.
Below, we'll talk about how this works and how we can help you recover compensation for the mental anguish you've endured.
- If you've not checked out our Comprehensive Guide to Personal Injury Law yet, make sure you click on over for an overview of Texas personal injury law.
What "mental anguish" means, and why the law empowers you to seek financial compensation.
Quite simply, "mental anguish" is just what it sounds like: the misery caused by the accident distinct from the physical pain and suffering. Some of the common examples we've seen over the last 25 years of practicing personal injury law:
- Depression: Many clients feel lethargic, unmotivated, and "down." They don't take pleasure in things like they used to, often turning to food or alcohol to soothe their depression.
- Anxiety: Clients routinely tell us that they now feel a new sense of fear and unease. They experienced changes like not want to get into cars or on planes anymore, they worry constantly for their own safety and that of their family members, or they're afraid their lives will never recover.
- Physical changes: We've seen victims experience stress through their bodies, such as intense stomach pains, headaches, and sleeping problems. Many times, clients undergo wild swings in weight. Further, it's quite common for victims to experience sexual difficulties.
Again, the above is but a sampling of the problems we've seen. Everyone experiences trauma differently and at different times.
So, why does the law allow victims to seek money damages for mental anguish? Because money is the closest thing to justice the civil court system has to offer. There's no way you can get back the hours when you experienced intense depression or anxiety. There's no way we can get those sleepless nights back or the times you dazed off at work, church, or school. The money we seek for you empowers you to decide what your future will look like.
How we prove the full extent of your mental anguish.
As with everything in these lawsuits, it's extremely important to remember that the law doesn't simply give you money---we have to prove your losses. Our job is to provide the court with all the information needed to show exactly how the accident impacted you. The entire exercise is to show how your life is different today than it was before. The defendants will try to show that you suffered from the same maladies prior to the incident in order to mitigate their losses, or even try to completely undermine your claim. Here's how we fight back:
- Your testimony. You're the one who knows yourself best. We'll give you the chance to testify at trial and at your deposition about what you've endured. In some cases, we'll videotape you in our offices explaining how you've been impacted by the incident as part of our "demand packet."
- Medical records. Many of our clients have been moved to seek professional counseling because of the mental toll they've gone through. Often, this is the first time our clients have received such services. The appropriate use of the records generated in these sessions can add significant weight to your claim.
- Expert testimony. In some cases, we've found it useful to employ a mental health professional to assess our clients' conditions. They then can testify in court about what they've found.
Since every client is unique, we always approach each case with a blank slate. We want to hear your story and then be your voice for your suffering. Call us today at (855) 326-0000 to learn more.
Related Articles for Further Reading:
- How Compensation for Physical Impairment Works
- Personal Injury Law: Disfigurement
- Personal Injury Law: Loss of Consortium
