Answer:

A client asked recently whether or not she could recover for her emotional damages after her personal injury case in Orlando. Her particular case was a car accident case. In Florida, in most car accident cases, in order to recover emotional damages, she as a plaintiff would have to prove that she has a permanent injury. To do that, we use her treating physician, her doctors, and sometimes hired experts to teach the jury, explain to the jury, and show that the injuries she has are permanent.

The jury is actually asked a specific question as to whether or not she has a permanent injury. If the jury determines that she has a permanent injury, she can be compensated for the amount of her emotional loss or emotional damages. If the jury for whatever reason would decide that she does not have a permanent injury, then she would not be entitled to emotional loss or emotional damages. That’s unique to a car accident case. If it was a slip and fall or some other type of case, the permanency question is not asked and the jury’s allowed to assess the emotional damages involved.

If you have any questions about this or any other issue within your personal injury case, please contact us. We’d be happy to help you.