Mental Anguish Damages
Mental anguish damages generally refer to non-physical harms and losses that result from experiencing a serious injury or losing a family member. Texas courts define compensable mental anguish as extreme mental pain and distress that causes a substantial disruption in the victim’s daily routine.
Mental anguish damages are sometimes viewed as controversial because some folks disagree with awarding money to people for non-physical injuries. As a result, mental anguish awards are vigorously challenged in trial courts and many large mental anguish awards are reversed at the appellate court level. In serious injury and wrongful death cases, mental anguish can be the largest compensatory damage available which is why choosing a dedicated Texas personal injury lawyer is consequential. In 2023, Texas personal injury lawyer Holland DeKeyzer negotiated one of the largest settlements in Texas for mental anguish damages resulting from a truck accident case.
When Can A Party Recover Mental Anguish Damages In Texas?
Most mental anguish damage claims result from a physical injury or wrongful death caused by a negligent party like in auto accident cases or workplace injury cases. All injury victims may have a claim for mental anguish damages. Less common cases that may give rise to mental anguish claims include certain fraud cases, intentional violations of fiduciary duties, or malicious conduct. There is also one cause of action called a bystander claim that requires a person to have witnessed a serious injury or death of a family member but does not require physical injury to the bystander claimant.
What Evidence Is Needed To Prove Mental Anguish Damages In Texas?
According to Texas law, the term “mental anguish” implies a relatively high degree of mental pain and distress that causes a substantial disruption in the plaintiff’s daily routine. Texas courts have created a threshold by holding that mere disappointment, anger, resentment or embarrassment, does not rise to the level of compensable mental anguish.
Texas law also requires direct evidence of a substantial disruption in the plaintiff’s daily routine to prove compensatory mental anguish. Direct evidence may include the plaintiff’s own testimony about how her mental anguish has disrupted her life and friends and family testimony is often used as well to describe the problems they have witnessed. Expert testimony from a therapist or psychiatrist would be direct evidence of severe mental anguish. Although Texas courts have needlessly complicated the minimum level of evidence required to merit mental anguish damages, the presentation of mental anguish evidence is relatively simple and can be done by lots of witness testimony.
How Is Mental Anguish Measured And Calculated?
Calculating the value of mental anguish is often the most difficult aspect and where the inexperienced personal injury lawyer fails because Texas courts require plaintiffs to connect the amount of the award with the “nature, duration, and severity” established by the evidence. Some personal injury lawyers foolishly connect the value to evidence like the cost of the medical care or the amount of lost earnings because it is simple, and the insurance companies prefer this method as it reduces the mental anguish value. This method is known as anchoring because the mental anguish amount is anchored to the economic damages. In other cases, personal injury lawyers have attempted to connect mental anguish values to million-dollar fighter jets or famous artwork to anchor the mental anguish value to million-dollar items. This unsubstantiated anchoring has created devastating outcomes by creating bad law and resulting in zero dollars recovered as the appellate courts reverse these attempts.
How Can Personal Injury Lawyers Connect Mental Anguish Amounts To The Evidence Established At Trial
In a recent Supreme Court of Texas opinion, the Court reversed a large multi-million-dollar verdict in favor of a family that lost a husband and father because the Court determined there was not sufficient evidence to support the verdict. The Court reasoned that the personal injury lawyer for the family did not connect the mental anguish award to the evidence established at trial. The Court also noted that the family’s lawyer did not explain how the mental anguish money would help the family grieve the loss of the husband and father.
In catastrophic cases, skilled personal injury lawyers utilize grief experts to offer direct evidence at trial to quantify the nature, severity, and duration of the mental anguish. Therapist and psychiatrist, when used as grief experts, can offer testimony that articulates the severity of harm by providing context or comparisons based on the experts’ clinical experience. These grief experts can offer other monetary examples that will help alleviate the family’s grief.
Another strategy is to develop a comprehensive plan that will explain to the jury how the money will be used. For example, if the deceased family member had a lifelong dream of building a family mountain retreat the clever lawyer may detail these plans to the jury and put an accurate cost to this dream and explain how achieving this dream would alleviate some grief. Another example is to create a nonprofit that would honor the decedent and attempt to prevent a similar tragedy. Simply put, Texas law requires some explanation as to how much money is needed to help alleviate the family’s grief and promote the decedent’s memory.
Texas Personal Injury Lawyers Fighting For Texas Size Justice
Meagan and Holland DeKeyzer are Texas Made Lawyers fighting for Texas Size Justice. The DeKeyzer Law Firm was created to represent individuals and families navigate some of life’s biggest challenges. DeKeyzer Law Firm has over twenty years of combined personal injury litigation experience. We accept vehicle accident cases, personal injury cases, and wrongful death cases on a contingency agreement meaning you only pay attorney’s fees when we win the case. We offer free case consultations so call DeKeyzer Law Firm at (713) 904-4004 anytime.