Can you sue for emotional distress after an elevator accident? Following an elevator accident, victims, victims’ families, and bystanders may be able to file a claim for emotional distress in addition to other damages. Emotional distress can negatively affect people’s lives in many instances, particularly in the case of elevator accidents that can result in serious and fatal injuries.
To sue for emotional distress after an elevator accident in Las Vegas, NV, call George Bochanis Injury Law Offices today at 702-388-2005 and schedule a free consultation with one of our attorneys.
What Is Considered Emotional Distress?
In the event of an accident, people involved could experience psychological traumas and disturbances that constitute emotional distress. Individuals could experience a range of symptoms if they suffer emotional distress, whether as direct victims in an accident, bystanders, or the family of deceased accident victims.
Some emotional distress examples include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Sleep deprivation
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Hallucinations
- Anger and rage
These symptoms could dramatically impact a person’s quality of life and ability to function.
Emotional Distress From Elevator Accidents
Elevator accidents often occur, with one study finding that about 17,000 injuries and deaths occur each year in the U.S. due to elevator accidents. They’re particularly common in urban areas with many high rises, like Las Vegas.
Also, elevator accidents often result in severe injuries because of the different hazards involved. Even if an accident doesn’t result in serious injuries, victims could suffer emotional distress from being trapped in an elevator for a certain amount of time, including PTSD. Bystanders witnessing accidents and victims could easily sustain emotional distress, as could the loved ones of victims who died in fatal elevator accidents.
Legal Basis for Emotional Distress Claims
In legal terms, there are two types of emotional distress that people can experience. These include:
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED)
If a defendant in a case caused an accident through negligence, he or she would be liable for NIED. The majority of escalator and elevator accident risks arise from some form of negligence, which is why you would likely sue for NIED in an elevator accident lawsuit.
In the case of NIED, plaintiffs must be able to show that the trauma resulting from an accident either resulted from a physical injury or led to physical symptoms, such as pain, nausea and other digestive issues, sleep troubles, or others that prove the severity of emotional distress.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)
In these cases, a defendant would intentionally cause emotional distress or physical injury to the plaintiff. For example, a defendant might intentionally sabotage an elevator’s functionality to cause harm to occupants, constituting IIED. However, these instances are rare, as most elevator accidents result from the negligence of hotels, employees, technicians, or other parties as opposed to malicious intent.
If you sue for IIED in a lawsuit, you would not need to show that physical injuries caused your distress or that the distress led to physical symptoms.
Are There Limitations on Emotional Distress Claims?
At this time, Nevada doesn’t have a limit in place for the settlement amount in emotional distress lawsuits. Emotional distress, including NIED, can range from mild to severe. Ultimately, it’s up to a judge or jury to determine the final settlement in these cases. Another limitation to consider is that emotional distress experienced must be the direct result of the inciting accident.
Other Types of Damages in Elevator Accident Cases
In addition to emotional distress, plaintiffs can file for other types of non-economic damages along with economic, punitive, and wrongful death damages.
Non-Economic Damages
Emotional distress falls under the umbrella of non-economic damages, which cover the personal experiences of victims or others in elevator accident lawsuits. Apart from emotional distress, other types of non-economic damages can include disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of companionship or consortium.
Economic Damages
These are damages that account for the financial cost of emotional distress and injuries. For example, someone suffering from emotional distress could require therapy and medical care for certain related conditions, resulting in costly bills. People could also lose income due to the inability to work following an accident and going through the recovery process.
Punitive Damages
In rare instances, liable parties may exhibit gross negligence or commit malicious acts that warrant punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages. However, individuals can only seek these in a trial setting from a judge or jury.
Wrongful Death Damages
Emotional distress can also connect to wrongful death damages if a person loses a loved one in an elevator accident. Other wrongful death damages could include a combination of economic and non-economic damages leading up to and resulting from the person’s death. Other wrongful death costs could include funeral and burial expenses.
An experienced personal injury lawyer could help you identify and calculate all of these damages along with emotional distress, counting them toward a claim or lawsuit against liable parties.
How to Sue for Emotional Distress in Nevada
Whether suing a hotel for negligence or another liable party, there are some key steps you’ll need to take to succeed with a case. These steps include:
Seek Medical Attention
If you are suffering from emotional distress, seek help from a medical professional, a mental health care professional, or both, depending on your symptoms. A therapist could help diagnose a psychological condition and document it, while a doctor could help treat and record the physical symptoms related to your emotional distress.
Document Your Emotional Distress
You must also keep sufficient documentation of your emotional distress and how it has impacted your life. You can do so by:
- Maintaining a “pain journal” that details your experience, including any psychological and physical experiences you have, along with information about how the accident has affected your daily life
- Taking photos or recording video footage of the accident scene or physical injuries
- Regularly monitoring and recording changes in work performance, sleep patterns, or digestive issues
Consult an Attorney
To maximize your chances of success with an elevator accident lawsuit, it’s also best to consult an elevator accident lawyer. A reliable attorney can work with you to help prove liability and the nature of your emotional distress and other damages.
You can begin by meeting with a lawyer in a free consultation to discuss a potential case. During this consultation, the attorney will review the facts of your case and determine whether he or she can represent you. If you have valid grounds to file an emotional distress lawsuit, the attorney may decide to proceed with a case to seek total compensation.
Identify Liable Parties
Another critical step would entail identifying the liable parties responsible for the elevator accident. These accidents can have many potentially liable individuals or entities, including hotel owners and other property owners, management, employees, mechanics and technicians, or manufacturers of faulty parts or elevator systems.
Calculate Damages
Your lawyer could assist with identifying and quantifying all relevant damages that apply to your case. These could include economic, non-economic, wrongful death, or even punitive damages. In the process, your attorney could get a hold of all related documentation, including journal entries, medical and therapy records, proof of lost income, and more.
Gather and Organize Evidence
There are many pieces of evidence that could support your claim. For example, an attorney could collect medical records, witness statements, communication with mental health professionals, police reports, and other documentation resulting from the elevator accident and subsequent distress. He or she could then organize it to support your claim in a lawsuit, helping you navigate the legal process.
Initiate a Lawsuit
When your attorney is ready to proceed with a lawsuit, he or she can start by filing a complaint that names all defendants and details the nature of your damages. Once your lawyer receives a response, your lawyer could proceed with a lawsuit that involves pre-trial, discovery, and settlement processes. The trial process can take as long as years to settle, depending on the severity and complexity of the accident and injuries.
While your lawyer handles the legal process from start to finish, you can spend time recovering from your injuries and emotional distress while fighting to get total compensation for your suffering.
Connect With the Right Las Vegas Elevator Accident Attorney
The nature of emotional distress lawsuits makes it important to contact the right attorney to help you open a case. At George Bochanis Injury Law Offices, our Las Vegas elevator accident attorneys can meet with you in a free consultation to discuss a lawsuit. Contact us today to discover how we can help you.
