Can You Sue for Emotional Distress After a Car Accident in NY?

Being injured by someone else’s negligence in a car accident can leave you with serious physical injuries that can make moving forward with your life very difficult. A violent car accident, however, can also lead to immense psychological pain and emotional distress for which you also need compensation, and in the State of New York, you can seek this compensation in your car accident claim. If another motorist’s negligence leaves you injured – and suffering from emotional distress – look to an experienced Brooklyn car accident attorney for the professional legal guidance that you need.

Your Financial Damages

If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence in a car accident, it’s likely taken both a physical and an emotional toll on you. The financial damages you face are less difficult to identify, and they can include:

• Property damage to your vehicle
• Medical costs that can range from emergency care to surgery, hospitalization, and beyond
• Lost earnings than can flow into a decreased earning potential

Your Emotional Damages

In addition to the financial losses you suffer, it’s critical that you address your pain and suffering, which can be both physical and emotional. Your emotional suffering can take many forms, but some of the most common include:

• The emotional distress associated with being injured by someone else’s negligence
• Loss of companionship (if your injuries interfere with your close relationships)
• Loss of enjoyment in life (if, for example, you are no longer able to participate in – or to participate at the same level – in pursuits you once enjoyed
• Emotional side effects that can range from sleep disturbances, flashbacks, mood swings, crying jags, irritability, panic attacks, increased anxiety, and much more
• The immense emotional impact of a catastrophic injury, such as paralysis, disfigurement, loss of limb, and more

The negative impact of these effects can be difficult to overstate.

Calculating Your Emotional Damages

New York courts can take one of two approaches in the calculation of your fair and reasonable emotional damages, but the most common approach involves the following:

• Adding your economic damages in their entirety, including those expenses and losses that are predicted into the future
• Multiplying this number by a factor that ranges from 1.5 to 5

The greater your emotional distress, the higher the number that will be used. If, for example, your financial damages are calculated at $30,000 and your associated emotional distress is deemed to be very high, that $30,000 will be multiplied by 5 for a total of $150,000 in damages for your emotional distress. Whether you receive emotional damages – and their amount – will depend entirely upon the circumstances that make up your claim.

You Need an Experienced Brooklyn Car Accident Attorney on Your Side

The Brooklyn car accident lawyers at Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman understand the significance of your emotional damages and are committed to skillfully advocating for your just compensation. To learn more, please don’t hesitate tocontact us online or call us at 917-893-3514 today.