Car crashes are no joke, and can turn your life inside out in an instant. During your recovery, when you’re not able to work, you might see hundreds or thousands of dollars accumulate in medical bills. And that, in turn, can send anyone into a mental health spiral. Fortunately, Tennessee injury laws permit recovery for various different costs you may be facing. Keep reading to learn how you can sue the at-fault driver in Tennessee for not just your physical injuries, but also for the mental health issues, such as anxiety, that you may experience after a car crash. If you’ve been involved in a car accident, remember to call a Memphis car accident lawyer. We’ll do everything we can to take some of the stress off you during this rough time.
Can I Receive Compensation for Anxiety Caused By a Car Crash?
In Tennessee, after being injured in a car crash for which you were not at fault, you may be able to recover for medical damages, wrongful death, property damage, lost income, and—important for our purposes—pain and suffering.
Some of these, like pain and suffering, are non-economic damages; others like medical and property damage are economic costs. Tennessee law gives you the right, as the victim, to be restored to a pre-injury state. As such, there is no limit for economic damages in Tennessee.
Here we will describe what kinds of costs are included in each kind of damages:
Your medical damages will start right after the car crash, and you may not be able to stop paying medical damages for years, depending on the extent of your injuries. As such you are entitled to recovery for all your healthcare costs resulting from the crash: hospitalization, surgery, medication, physical therapy, assistive devices, nursing care, and ongoing medical treatment, among other possibilities.
After the crash, you may also have a lot of property damage. You are allowed to sue the at-fault driver or their insurance company for the costs of fixing your vehicle as well as the loss of valuable items you had in the car when the accident happened. If the car was completely destroyed, you’ll be able to sue for the fair market value of your vehicle as estimated by either a dealer or Kelley Blue Book.
Pain and suffering, as non-economic damages, may be difficult to calculate. By law, there is a limit on non-economic damages, which in Tennessee is usually $750,000. However, if the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or was convicted of a felony due to the car accident, the limit may be removed.
You’ll receive non-economic damages in addition to economic damages. Pain and suffering damages cover quality of life losses, depression, anxiety, otherwise mental anguish, permanent paralysis, inconvenience, and other suffering you have been forced to bear because of the car crash.
