Do All Personal Injury Cases Involve Physical Injury?
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 by B. Ervin Brown
Personal injury refers to physical harm as well as harm to the emotions and mind. The same standards of negligence, incompetence, or deliberate misconduct apply. Winston-Salem injury attorney B. Ervin Brown, II, explains some cases where personal injury may not necessarily be a physical injury.
People who suffer physical injury as the result of an accident, negligence, or deliberate actions of another may also suffer mentally or emotionally as the result of ensuing lost wages and high medical costs. The mental and emotional suffering may not be limited to the person who suffered the physical injury. Severe accidents can also affect the family members of the injured party.
This may be seen in wrongful death cases. Survivors may seek to recover from the loss of a family member, but may also seek to recover for trauma if they witnessed the family member maimed or killed. It should be noted that some courts require the other family member to be present at the time of the physical injury or to be in the same zone of danger. In the case of injury as the result of a drunken driver incident, some courts may allow for damages only from other passengers in the vehicle who may have been traumatized by the event.
When one spouse in injured, the other may be able to recover compensation for loss of society and companionship of the injured party.
If an injury was caused by intentional conduct, courts often allow the victim to recover for emotional distress even if there was no physical injury. Assault, kidnapping, or defamation of character do not usually involve physical injury.
Invasion of privacy or trespass may be seen as personal injury. For example, a teenage girl may be traumatized by the unwanted intimacy of a physical search by school officials.
Personal injury cases that do not involve physical injury are often far more complex and difficult to settle. Building a strong case requires time to conduct a thorough investigation and involve in-depth research on the part of an attorney.
Personal injury refers to physical harm as well as harm to the emotions and mind. The same standards of negligence, incompetence, or deliberate misconduct apply. Winston-Salem injury attorney B. Ervin Brown, II, explains some cases where personal injury may not necessarily be a physical injury.
People who suffer physical injury as the result of an accident, negligence, or deliberate actions of another may also suffer mentally or emotionally as the result of ensuing lost wages and high medical costs. The mental and emotional suffering may not be limited to the person who suffered the physical injury. Severe accidents can also affect the family members of the injured party.
This may be seen in wrongful death cases. Survivors may seek to recover from the loss of a family member, but may also seek to recover for trauma if they witnessed the family member maimed or killed. It should be noted that some courts require the other family member to be present at the time of the physical injury or to be in the same zone of danger. In the case of injury as the result of a drunken driver incident, some courts may allow for damages only from other passengers in the vehicle who may have been traumatized by the event.
When one spouse in injured, the other may be able to recover compensation for loss of society and companionship of the injured party.
If an injury was caused by intentional conduct, courts often allow the victim to recover for emotional distress even if there was no physical injury. Assault, kidnapping, or defamation of character do not usually involve physical injury.
Invasion of privacy or trespass may be seen as personal injury. For example, a teenage girl may be traumatized by the unwanted intimacy of a physical search by school officials.
Personal injury cases that do not involve physical injury are often far more complex and difficult to settle. Building a strong case requires time to conduct a thorough investigation and involve in-depth research on the part of an attorney.
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